The KOV (Kamoto Oliveira Virgule) pit and the connected Kamoto operations, run by Glencore's Kamoto Copper Company, are among the largest open-pit copper-cobalt mines on earth. From a respectful distance — security is heavy and casual visitors are not welcome on site — you can grasp the scale: terraced benches dropping hundreds of metres into red-grey rock, fleets of haul trucks the size of two-storey houses, and the constant procession of ore trucks heading to the smelters.
The mines around Kolwezi are responsible for a significant share of global cobalt production and a serious chunk of copper output. Driving the ring road west of the city centre gives a sense of the industrial scale without trying to enter the concessions.