Category: Mining
Q&A: Chinese-Dominated EV Supply Chains in Southeast Asia Grapple With Abuses
Since the 2010s, China has moved swiftly to secure mineral resources around the world to feed its gigantic electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturing industry. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, China was reported to own 15 of the 17 cobalt operations in the country, producing ...
The U.S.-China Cobalt Test in the DR Congo
There's a lot of talk these days in Washington policy circles about the urgent need for the United States to "de-risk" or "de-couple" itself from Chinese supply chains needed to manufacture batteries required to power the green mobility revolution. A lot ...
CMOC Deal Signals A New Moment in China-DRC Relations, With Possible Global Impacts
Shares in China Molybdenum (aka CMOC) jumped by 10% in Shanghai and 12% in Hong Kong on the news that the mining giant reached a deal with the Democratic Republic of Congo that will allow it to resume copper and cobalt exports from the Tenke Fungurume mine, one of ...
Unpacking the CMOC Deal: What Do We Know So Far?
The newly-announced deal between the Chinese mining giant CMOC and the DRC’s state mining company Gécamines is raising many questions. We asked our Francophone editor Christian-Géraud Neema, who is also an expert on DRC mining, to clue us in: WHAT DO ...
China’s CMOC Reaches Breakthrough Contract Settlement Deal With DRC Over the TFM Cobalt Mine
The Chinese mining giant CMOC announced on Wednesday that it finalized a deal with the DR Congo's state-run mining company Gécamines over royalty payments for the massive Tenke Fungurume (TFM) copper and cobalt mine. CMOC said in a statement published on ...
Backgrounder: China-Australia Iron Ore Fight
The Australian-based company Sundance Resources is suing the China-linked Australia-based AustSino for malpractice and corruption over the Mbalam-Nabeba iron project on the border of Cameroon and the Republic of Congo. The court case has led to eye-popping allegations, including that the dispute ...
New Billion-dollar Korean-Chinese EV Battery Plant Deal Likely to Anger the U.S.
South Korea's LG Chem signed a deal with Chinese mining and metal refining giant Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt to build a massive $920 million electric vehicle battery factory in southwest Korea. While the proposed factory makes a lot of sense for companies ...
China’s Top Africa Embarks Envoy on Three-Country Tour
Wu Peng, China's top diplomat in Africa, tweeted that he's visiting Guinea, Niger and Sierra Leone this week. Notably, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also recently visited Niger, where he announced a $150 million assistance package for the Sahel. Chinese companies also have major ...
How Far Ahead Is China in the Battery Race? Pretty Far.
China is sprinting ahead in the global race for critical minerals used to make batteries for electric cars, leaving Western competitors scrambling to catch up. Chinese companies’ early investment into the extraction of lithium and cobalt in Africa was key to this success, according to a detailed new report by ...
Challenging Chinese Mining Contracts Isn’t About Politics, It’s About What’s Fair, Says DRC Finance Minister
DR Congo Finance Minister Nicolas Kazadi pushed back against the narrative that Kinshasa is specifically targeting Chinese companies over unfair mining contracts. The minister was adamant in his discussion with Financial Times correspondent Tom Wilson at the FT Commodities Global ...
Fierce Debate Underway in the DR Congo Over Whether China Has Met Its Infrastructure Development Obligations
The Congolese stakeholders in the controversial Chinese mining joint venture Sicomines are calling for further revisions to the controversial multibillion-dollar resource-for-infrastructure deal. At issue are stark differences in what the Congolese side believes it's owed in terms of infrastructure development and ...
China’s CMOC Set to Overtake Switzerland’s Glencore as the DR Congo’s Top Cobalt Producer
CMOC Group is forecast to overtake Swiss mining giant Glencore as the largest producer of cobalt when the Chinese company brings another massive mine online later this year. Cobalt is a critical ingredient used to manufacture batteries for electric vehicles and ...