Mineral resources of the DRC
Minerals such as lithium and cobalt are essential components of batteries that could help the world transition away from fossil fuels. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the second-largest country in Africa, is rich in both.
DRC is rich in natural resources and has 70% of the world’s cobalt.
The territory of the DRC is rich in natural resources. This includes wood, oil, gas, gold, and diamonds, as well as minerals essential to the energy transition, such as cobalt and copper. The DRC is one of the most biodiversity-rich regions in the world.
The country is considered the world leader in the production and reserves of minerals used in electronic equipment and batteries of electric vehicles, as well as in 5G technology. Multinational energy companies are already lining up for the country’s oil reserves waiting to be extracted.
Leading Sub-Sectors
– Copper ore and nickel ore mining
– Gold ore mining
– Cobalt ore mining
– Mining equipment leasing and financing
– Power generation & transmission
The main minerals exploited by the DRC :
– Copper:
DRC is Africa’s leading copper producer and the world’s fifth-largest producer.
– Cobalt:
DRC is the world’s largest producer of cobalt (60% of world reserves). Cobalt is the most demanded mineral in the world, being essential in the manufacture of next-generation batteries for smartphones and electric cars which is exported almost entirely to China , it is the only country to have the industrial capacities to transform it into batteries .
– Lithium:
The Democratic Republic of Congo has the seventh largest lithium reserves in the world with resources estimated at nearly three million tons. Like cobalt, lithium is an essential component of batteries and vehicles, computers, and mobile phones.
– Coltan:
Coltan is found in large quantities in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the Kivu region which holds between 60 and 80% of the world’s reserves.
– Gold:
Since the beginning of 2010, exploration in the gold sector has been expanding in the DRC. In 2016, industrial gold production in the DRC was 22.6 tons.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo has deposits of about fifty ores, which are frequently mined: copper, cobalt, silver, uranium, lead, zinc, cadmium, diamond, gold, some rare metals like coltan… The Democratic Republic of Congo also extracts diamonds from its basement. The country has the second-largest copper reserves in the world with 10% of the total recorded on the planet and especially the largest cobalt reserves.
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