The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday, Sept. 9, edition that Ivanhoe Mines is intensifying its efforts on the massive Makoko copper discovery in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe reports that Ivanhoe has increased the resource by 30 per cent, strengthening its plans for what it claims is the world's largest and highest-grade copper discovery in the past decade. The update was issued on Tuesday as rising copper prices and a dwindling pipeline of major discoveries sharpen concerns over future supply. Congo is becoming increasingly central to that outlook. Ivanhoe, alongside China's Zijin Mining Group and the Congolese government, jointly owns the Kamoa-Kakula copper complex, one of Congo's top producers. Ivanhoe said the Makoko District in its Western Forelands project now has 42 million tonnes of indicated resources grading 2.66-per-cent copper and 612 million tonnes of inferred resources grading 1.8-per-cent copper, containing about 12 million tonnes of copper. The company said the Western Forelands discoveries rank as the world's largest and highest-grade copper finds of the past decade. Ivanhoe plans to begin a scoping study for Makoko in the first quarter of 2027.