Control of all copper and cobalt exploration and production was given to Gécamines, established as the state mining company.

[5] 1,269 drillholes have been sunk on the Ruashi property over the years, and further drilling was conducted in 2003 and in 2005 to confirm asset size estimates.

The Sable processing plant in Zambia was then used to extract copper metal and cobalt salt from the concentrate.

Phase two involved expanding the concentrator and building a new acid-leaching and SX-EW plant to produce copper and cobalt metal on site.

[5] Meterox, with debt of $2 billion in 2009, was forced to sell other assets in order to fund the phase two expansion.

[6] Initial production began in June 2006, processing material from 56 dumps and tailings dams at Ruashi and Etoile.

Ruashi had to install pipelines to access water from deeper in the pits, and had to drill boreholes to gain a predictable supply.