Category: Mining
China’s Enhances Its Dominant Role in the Congolese Mining Sector With Massive New $2.5 Billion Investment
The state-owned China Molybdenum Co (aka China Moly) recently announced a massive new $2.5 billion investment in its Tenke Fungurume mine (TFM) in southeastern DR Congo that aims to double its copper and cobalt output, critical raw materials used to manufacture batteries for electric vehicles. ...
Automakers Keen to Reduce Reliance on Cobalt-Powered EV Batteries
Rumors are buzzing within the Chinese auto industry that Tesla is trying for the first time to produce a car without a cobalt-powered battery. Tesla is reportedly considering the use of Chinese EV giant BYD's LFP (Lithium iron phosphate) Blade battery. ...
Ambassador: More Chinese FDI Going to the DR Congo Than Anywhere Else in Africa
Chinese companies have invested $176 million dollars in the DR Congo during the first half of this year, more than any other country in Africa, according to Ambassador Zhu Jing. That's basically the only takeaway from Ambassador Zhu's ...
Photo of DRC Soldiers Helping Chinese Small-Scale Miners Sparks Widespread Outrage on Congolese Social Media
This image has been circulating widely on Congolese Twitter for the past 24 hours. It shows Chinese miners working together with DRC army soldiers (FARDC) in what appears to be a form of small-scale mining in the town Bunia in the far eastern province ...
Week in Review: Minerals, Mayhem and Mediation
With most strategic mineral exports from the Democratic Republic of the Congo shipped to China through the port of Durban in South Africa, the recent closure of the N3 highway that connects the port to Johannesburg presents a potentially costly disruption to vital supply chains. Authorities were forced ...
White House Issues Report On How to Disentangle Critical Materials Supply Chains From China, Just as Apple is Reportedly in Talks With Chinese Battery Makers
Securing reliable supplies of cobalt and other strategic materials from places like the Democratic Republic of the Congo featured prominently in a new White House report that aims to counter China's dominance in this area. The timing of the report, however, comes just as Apple is reported ...
The Stuff That Goes Into Making a Battery For Electric Vehicles is Getting a Lot More Expensive
Prices for the key commodities needed to produce electric vehicle batteries have been rallying all year on stronger demand for new energy vehicles. They spiked in recent days, following the U.S.-led summit on climate change that took place online last week. ...
Despite Lots of M&A Activity in the Cobalt Mining Sector, Chinese Imports of the Precious Metal Fell Sharply in 2020
Chinese cobalt imports fell 41.8% last year compared to the volumes shipped from the DRC in 2019, according to the mining news website Argus Media. The lockdowns in response to COVID-19 at the mines in the DRC and at South African ports, from where the precious metal ...
Cobalt Prices Slump Even as China Ramps Up Imports and the U.S. Declares National Emergency Over Critical Materials Supply Chains
Neither China's recent cobalt buying binge nor a declaration of a state of emergency by U.S. President Donald Trump about securing the supply chains for strategic minerals, including cobalt, have been enough to boost the price of the chemical element, which is used to make batteries for ...
Africa’s Strategic Mineral Deposits Now at the Center of an Increasingly Fraught Great Power Competition
Iron ore, tantalum, cobalt, coltan, and a handful of other strategically important minerals and elements are at the center of an increasingly heated battle for the control of global supply chains among the world's largest economies. Leaders in Europe and the ...
U.S., Europe Becoming Increasingly Worried Over China’s Dominance of the World’s Cobalt Supply Chain
With ties between China and the U.S. and Europe becoming increasingly strained, there's growing concern in Washington, Brussels, and other European capitals about China's dominance over the supply for strategically vital metals and minerals, especially cobalt. Cobalt is widely used in ...
Chinese Embassy in Zimbabwe Gets Into Media Spat Over the Return of a Controversial Diamond Mine
In a highly unusual move, the Chinese embassy in Zimbabwe published a detailed rebuttal on the Bulawayo24.com website against allegations that they were involved in the return of the controversial Anjin diamond mine. The spat began on Sunday when ...