The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is set to take charge of buying and selling artisanal cobalt, announcing this change after it halted cobalt exports to deal with a surplus in the market and falling prices.
On February 22, 2025, the DRC put a four-month hold on all cobalt exports to help stabilize prices, which have dropped to their lowest ever at $9.5 per pound. This decision, made by the country’s authority in charge of mineral resources, will be reassessed after three months.
Along with the export halt, the DRC government is strengthening a rule from November 2019, giving a new subsidiary of the state-owned mining company Gecamines exclusive rights to buy and sell all cobalt that’s mined by small-scale artisanal miners. The goal is to have better control over prices and improve working conditions in the artisanal mining sector.
Artisanal miners, who use simple tools to extract cobalt, make up about 20% to 30% of the cobalt produced in the DRC. This initiative aims to better organize this sector, increase oversight, and enhance government income by managing the entire artisanal supply chain.
Experts believe that while stopping exports and enforcing state control might help stabilize prices, the long-term effects are still unclear. There are worries that companies might start hoarding supplies and that these actions won’t have a major impact on the global market.
The DRC’s decisions reflect a growing trend among resource-rich countries to gain more control over their natural resources to maximize economic benefits and solve issues within the artisanal mining industry.
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