A dated, source-rated feed of developments in artisanal cobalt and DRC mineral governance. Each entry is rated for how well it is corroborated.
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.
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.
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 an ATF-PCSC/Mayer Brown consortium (with Rothschild, EY and SRK) to audit the Sino-Congolese programme from its April 2008 launch to the March 2024 amendment, feeding a possible renegotiation.
Mines Minister Louis Watum and China’s Natural Resources Minister Guan Zhi’ou signed a cooperation memorandum in Beijing built on local processing and respect for Congolese law, with duty-free customs access for Congolese exports to China from 1 May 2026.
A revised decree empowers 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.
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.
Trafigura reported the first delivery of Congolese copper and cobalt to global markets over the Lobito Atlantic Railway, initially to US customers, as the corridor secured US$753m in financing from the US DFC and the Development Bank of Southern Africa.
The metal more than doubled in 2025 on the DRC export shock; analysts forecast a 2026 supply deficit.
From 2026 the main cobalt due-diligence assurance pathway is folded into RMI’s all-minerals standard, a material change for downstream sourcing.
An ad-hoc commission set up after the December processing ban reported that the vast majority of Lualaba copper-cobalt treatment entities breached traceability and sourcing rules; the ministry lifted restrictions selectively through January.
The world’s largest cobalt producer can ship only about a quarter of its output under the 2026 quota, forcing it to stockpile the balance inside the DRC; it warned the curbs could speed a shift to cobalt-free batteries.
A minerals-for-security framework covering cobalt, copper and others, tied to a peace process; the DRC holds over 70% of global cobalt reserves.
Mines Minister Louis Watum’s Order 00964 of 19 December froze all artisanal copper-cobalt buying and processing, citing fraud and sourcing from industrial concessions; the freeze paralysed Kolwezi and protests on 27–28 December left at least two dead.