Idjwi Property (and Kalehe, Shabunda, Mwenga) South Kivu - The Mineral Island

Property Details

Shamika’s property in the Idjwi Territory consists of 150 mining blocks, covering a total area of 143.6 km2. It is situated on Lake Kivu, making up 4 licences #3637, #8188, #8189 and #8314. Shamika is in a position to start the operations on a wolframite (tungsten ore) mine on its Idjwi property in the near future.

Infrastructures

The main access to Idjwi Island is the Lake Kivu waterway. Though the main access over the lake is towards Bukavu, access to Goma and Kalehe are also very handy. The Goma-Bukavu national road is then running along the lakeshore by the city of Kalehe.


General Description

Idjwi is an island belonging to DRC and situated on Lake Kivu, in the Province of South Kivu. It is 40 km in length, covering an area of some 285 km². It is the second largest inland island in Africa, and the tenth largest in the world. Idjwi is roughly equidistant to both the DRC and Rwanda, with 10 to 15 kilometres separating its western shore from the DRC mainland and a similar distance between its eastern shore and the coastline of Rwanda. The island’s southern tip, lies only 1 kilometre from the Rwandan coast. The Idjwi sector is known for its tin, iron and tungsten ore resources. Tungsten deposits for Idjwi Island show a content of very high percentage of tungsten oxide, and are structured to host open-pit mining.

Mining History

The island of Idjwi is known for its exceptional mineralization. In the past, cassiterite (tin ore), columbo-tantalite, wolframite (tungsten ore) and iron ore have been mined on the island, but always only on an artisanal scale. The geographical situation of the island and its proximity to Rwanda’s zone of influence have always prevented the introduction of industrial mining techniques on the island. Mining has nevertheless always been a significant activity for the population of Idjwi, though official figures regarding the quantity of ore traded have probably always been understated.