Congo Uses Cobalt Export Limits to Force Processing Deals With Chinese Miners

File image of a cobalt processing facility in the southern Congolese city of Lumbumbashi. (Photo by SAMIR TOUNSI / AFP)

The Democratic Republic of Congo appears determined to leverage its negotiating power with Chinese and other mining companies to secure major concessions on local cobalt processing.

That was the signal sent by Congolese Mines Minister Louis Watum, who said — according to Bloomberg — that authorities are in talks with several mining groups, including Chinese giant CMOC Group, the world’s top cobalt producer. The goal: renegotiate export quotas in exchange, potentially, for the establishment of processing plants in the DRC.

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by Christian Geraud Neema Byamungu

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