C4D's story is a search: years of failed sites before Tombolo. The phases below trace it, from the feasibility study to a pilot now at its final investment decision.
Amnesty International's exposé on child labour in cobalt supply chains triggers an industry response.
BMW commissions a GIZ feasibility study. A fact-finding mission assesses three artisanal sites and their communities, identifying three core risks: health and safety, environmental pollution, and the worst forms of child labour.
C4D launches with BMW, BASF, Samsung Electronics and Samsung SDI. EGC is established and granted the monopoly on buying artisanal cobalt; the ZEA Kisote site is announced as the first candidate pilot.
Drilling confirms Kisote's cobalt is too deep for artisanal mining and the pilot is abandoned. C4D pivots to a mobile training-and-coaching model delivered directly at informal sites with SAEMAPE. Volkswagen joins.
The search moves to an industrial concession, with site assessments at Kisanfu, UCK-Dran, Kawama and others. Partners travel to the region in 2022, but the large-scale-miner pilot stalls on unresolved legal questions.
Phase 2 launches and Stihl joins. The concession pilot fails: the Mining Code bars an industrial miner from leasing squares to a cooperative without risking its land rights. C4D shifts to national-level engagement; EGC revives under a new director, and a fifth training module on deep-pit safety is co-created with SAEMAPE.
Gécamines subleases the Tombolo and Kanunka sites to EGC, creating the legal basis for a pilot. C4D signs a collaboration agreement with EGC and pauses cooperative coaching to support it. Geological studies confirm both sites; Tombolo is selected. Renault joins.
The Tombolo study and mine design are finalised and the pilot reaches a final investment decision (pending). USAID is dismantled, leaving a funding gap; the European Commission joins via the EU Global Gateway. A presidential decree recognises the EGC pilot as a priority. C4D publishes its Lessons Learned Paper.
C4D can sustain technical assistance until early 2028: consolidate Tombolo after the investment decision, scale to other sites, and disseminate its blueprints (checklists, SOPs, training modules) while pushing for market incentives for legal artisanal cobalt.
SAEMAPE and GIZ sign a formalisation MOU in Lubumbashi, cementing the partnership that underpinned C4D's training work.
The Tombolo geological study and mine design are finalised, and the pilot has been brought to the point of a final investment decision. If taken, it would open the first legal artisanal cobalt mine under the 2018 Mining Code.
Funding has shifted. After USAID was dismantled in 2025, leaving a gap, the European Commission joined C4D, co-funding through the EU Global Gateway. C4D expects to sustain technical assistance until early 2028, consolidating Tombolo, disseminating its blueprints, and pushing for the market incentives that would make legal artisanal cobalt viable.
Cobalt for Development is one of dozens of programmes in the ASM-cobalt space. Browse the full registry, or tell us what we have missed.