Infrastructure such as roads, water supply and management, schools and hospitals was once good, but as of 2004 it was poorly maintained.
[1] The state-owned Gécamines started operating the Luilu refinery at Kolwezi in 1952, taking ores from the western Katanga open pit mines and producing copper concentrates.
[6] Following the take-over, the project was operated by a consortium of First Quantum Minerals (65%), with Gécamines and institutional investors having minority shares.
[2] In August 2009, the DRC government revoked First Quantum's license due to a dispute over renegotiating the contract.
[10] In August 2010 it emerged that the Kazakh Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) had acquired the property through its British Virgin Islands subsidiary.
Additionally, the government had to deal with thousands of furious Congolese people that lost their jobs when the assets were seized.
ENRC gets a legal ceasefire and proper claims to all of First Quantum’s DRC assets, while the arbitration against the government is dropped.'