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Mountain of strategic metals stranded in DR Congo begins to shift
It was stuck for over nine months, alongside an even larger stockpile of copper, due to a dispute over royalties between owners CMOC and the DRC's state mining company Gecamines.
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A general view of a part of the tens of thousands of tonnes of copper and cobalt that is stored in Tenke Fungurume Mine, in southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, on June 17, 2023. A dispute between the Congolese authorities and Chinese firm CMOC, which owns the mine, put a stop to exports for months. The Democratic Republic of Congo produces over 70 percent of the global supply of cobalt. The metal is a critical component of batteries and seen as key to the renewable energy transition. (AFP/Emmet Livingstone)
A
mountain of copper and cobalt worth up to $2 billion is piled up in DR Congo, symbolizing the wildly volatile market for metals touted as crucial to the green energy revolution.
As many as 13,000 tonnes of cobalt powder are thought to be hoarded in the Chinese-owned Tenke Fungurume mine -- equivalent to seven percent of the world's production last year.
It was stuck for over nine months, alongside an even larger stockpile of copper, due to a dispute over royalties between owners CMOC and the DRC's state mining company Gecamines.
With the export ban lifted, CMOC has begun to shift its giant stash of metals.
Releasing the cobalt all at once would crash the market, where prices are already at rock-bottom. But initial fears that the resumption of business at Tenke Fungurume would lead to market turbulence have been allayed.
"The price of cobalt is not affected," said Zhou Jun, a CMOC vice president and the head of Tenke Fungurume mine, in southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Most of the cobalt will be sold piecemeal as part of long-term supply contracts, he said.
