The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) said it will support plans to build a new state-owned copper and cobalt smelter, facilitating the formalization of artisanal mining, Bloomberg reported.
At present, minerals, which are crucial for electric vehicles, are further becoming the focus of global attention.
The project, to be developed by private Congolese company Buenassa Sarl, is expected to cost about $350 million, and Delphos International, a Washington-based financial advisory firm, has agreed to help raise funds.
Congo supplies about 70 percent of the world's cobalt and is one of the top three copper producers in the world, meaning it will play a key role in the global green energy transition.
Congo's copper and cobalt production is dominated by industrial mines owned by foreign companies such as Glencore and Luoyang Molybdenum, but both the government and industry are under pressure to help improve working conditions for informal miners.
Informal miners are artisanal miners, often in dangerous conditions.
Delphos International's involvement also highlights the growing importance western governments place on ensuring security of supply for strategic minerals such as copper and cobalt, while reducing their reliance on China.
Delphos International works closely with the U.S. government and specializes in development and export credit financing. Roya Rahmani, president of Delphos International, says Buenassa's project "aligns very well with the geopolitical goals of the United States."
Rahmani said the U.S. agreement to support plans to develop an electric vehicle value chain between Congo and neighboring Zambia was a key factor in the company's decision to sign off on the smelter project.
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Buenassa Mining, owned by Congolese businessman Eddy Kioni, is working with Entreprise Generale du Cobalt (EGC), a state-owned company that owns all rights to artisanal cobalt mining in Congo.
Since its inception in 2019, EGC has been working hard to set up operations to help regulate and improve so-called artisanal mining conditions.
"The idea is to change the way minerals and wealth are controlled," Kioni said in an interview last week on the sidelines of the annual United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York.
Buenassa initially planned to produce 30,000 tonnes of cathode copper and 5,000 tonnes of cobalt hydroxide, mainly from the thousands of Congolese who mine these minerals by hand.
But Kioni now expects the project to expand with the support of Delphos and the government.
Industry Ministry Julien Paluku said the new smelter would ensure that "all cobalt from the artisanal sector can be enriched in this smelter."
Kioni said Buenassa would also process industrial ore to ensure the smelter's profitability and was in talks with a U.S. commodities trader to market its products, although he declined to name one.
President Tshisekedi said last week that most of Congo's minerals are now being refined in China. The two countries reached a $6.2 billion mines-for-infrastructure deal that is now being renegotiated to create a "new venture" between the two countries.
President Tshisekedi declined to give details, but the government has demanded more control over the deal.
But Kioni said Buenassa could be the beneficiary of a renegotiation.
