A dated, source-rated feed of developments in artisanal cobalt and DRC mineral governance. Each entry is rated for how well it is corroborated.
A late-June ARECOMS notice operationalised the forfeiture flagged in June: the measure took effect on 1 July 2026, and only cobalt entered into the customs system by 5 July 2026 could still ship under first-half quotas, with unshipped volumes reverting to the strategic quota and no carry-forward. ARECOMS restated it can revoke export rights for missed deadlines, illegal quota transfers or processing of unauthorised material.
The strategic-reserve decree (April), the strategic-minerals-list decree raising the royalty to 10% (May) and the CEEC certification decree (March) were each adopted only as drafts in the Council of Ministers. By early July none had been signed by the Prime Minister or published in the Journal Officiel, so they are not yet in force; the 10% royalty in particular applies only on the Prime Minister’s signature. Congolese press confirms the drafts, but no gazetted text was located, a reminder that an adopted draft decree is not an enacted one.
Fastmarkets reported that only about a third to a half of Q4-2025 and Q1-2026 cobalt-hydroxide allocations were physically shipped, with roughly 7,800 t clearing customs between December 2025 and end-February 2026, citing paperwork, logistics and a bridge collapse on a key route. Single-source market intelligence, attributed to unnamed DRC operators; it aligns with Glencore’s reported 39% year-on-year cobalt drop but is not independently confirmed by customs data.
The Sharjah-based Khalid bin Sultan Al Qasimi Humanitarian Foundation announced funding for a UNICEF child-labour project in the Kambove health zone, aiming to withdraw more than 200 children from artisanal sites, provide cash transfers to 100 families and open schooling and vocational pathways. It builds on UNICEF’s TPS+ model, which reports 1,015 children removed from mines in 2024.
In a late-June notice, ARECOMS said any January–June 2026 export quota left unused by 30 June is forfeited and reassigned to its strategic quota, with no carry-forward, and warned it can withdraw quotas from companies that fail to ship or that handle unauthorised third-party material.
The 21st edition (17–19 June, Pullman Grand Karavia) drew 300+ exhibitors; Mines Minister Louis Watum said the DRC must move from extraction to “transformation, innovation and value creation,” and provincial authorities announced an EV-battery plant for the DRC–Zambia special economic zone.
A joint communiqué on October-2025 sampling in Kolwezi, Pierre Muteba 2 and Fungurume reports fine-particle readings up to six times WHO guidelines and heavy metals (cobalt, arsenic, lead, uranium) in water and sediments, and criticises slow state remediation.
The mayor of Dilala commune voiced concern over the persistent presence of children on the Kamilombe remblai, a high-risk artisanal zone on Kolwezi’s edge (also the Fair Cobalt Alliance’s flagship site). Single-source; no FCA or EGC response documented.
The state artisanal-mining service presented to Governor Fifi Masuka the ministerial orders establishing 33 new Zones d’Exploitation Artisanale, part of the post-suspension effort to give creuseurs legal space to work.
A tripartite MoU frames long-term supply of Congolese cobalt hydroxide to a planned US refinery; on the DRC side it commits the parties to explore building local refining capacity and to train EGC teams.
The Council of Ministers adopted a draft decree adding lithium, tantalum, niobium, tungsten, uranium and rare earths to the strategic-substances list and lifting their royalty from 3.5% to the 10% rate cobalt already carries.
China’s MMG said its 360 t Kinsevere quota (against roughly 6,000 t capacity) makes cobalt economically unviable and asked for policy clarity, while CMOC kept producing near capacity and accumulated unexportable cobalt inside the DRC.
Its first cargo under the quota regime had cleared in December 2025; on a combined 2025–26 quota of ~22,800 t, Q1 2026 cobalt output fell 39% year on year as Glencore prioritised copper and stockpiled over-quota cobalt in-country.
A decree presented at the 10 April Council of Ministers lets ARECOMS acquire, hold and sell physical stocks of the three strategic minerals, with unexported quota volumes rolled into the reserve, a tool to steady prices and assert economic sovereignty.
Trade analysts attribute the rally mainly to the DRC export restrictions and quota under-execution rather than demand, warning the recovery rests on “administrative scarcity” that could reverse if stockpiles are released.
In an April analysis the “Congo is not for sale” coalition argues the fixed annual infrastructure payment caps the state’s upside while copper trades high, estimating a US$412.6m shortfall over 2024–2026 (the coalition’s own, un-audited modelling).
Aims to make Kasulo a global benchmark for responsible artisanal cobalt across health, safety, human rights and traceability.
The APCSC regulator appointed a consortium led by Mayer Brown (with Rothschild, EY and SRK) to audit the Sino-Congolese programme from its April 2008 launch to the March 2024 amendment (a ~16-year span), feeding a possible renegotiation.
Mines Minister Louis Watum and China’s Natural Resources Minister Guan Zhi’ou signed a cooperation memorandum built on local processing and respect for Congolese law. (Separately, China’s continent-wide zero-tariff scheme for African countries takes effect 1 May 2026; it is not a provision of this MoU, and the DRC as an LDC already had duty-free access.)
A draft decree adopted by the Council of Ministers (28 March) would empower the Centre d’Expertise, d’Évaluation et de Certification to certify and determine the physico-chemical characteristics of all minerals produced nationally, a central piece of cobalt export traceability; it awaits signature and gazettal.
The “Toxic Transition” investigation alleges sulphur-dioxide emissions from the expanded processing plant triggered a public-health crisis and displaced more than 10,000 people, tracing the mine’s cobalt to several global carmakers, which responded.
The DRC Mines Ministry approved the transfer of Chemaf’s copper-cobalt assets to Virtus (with Lloyds), backed by a US DFC-supported consortium; Mutoshi, a former artisanal-formalisation pilot, is targeted for large-scale development.
A public-private partnership to professionalise cooperatives and secure traceability on an ERG exploitation area in Lualaba.
At the 4 February Washington ministerial of 50+ countries, the US proposed a preferential trade zone with a critical-minerals price floor; President Tshisekedi pressed for projects bringing local jobs, technology transfer and standards.