The financial dispute pitting Gécamines against Israeli businessman Dan Gertler, who remains under US sanctions, is on the verge of taking a political turn. Here is our in-depth look at this complex legal case. The case is being taken seriously at the highest echelons of government. In a statement made on national television on 27 December 2019, Félix Tshisekedi spoke of a “serious matter” and declared that he urged the courts “to do their job” to resolve the complex case involving considerable sums of money (€200m was cited) and the… Read More Here

Followers of Elon Musk are used to big claims on Twitter. The social media habits of the Tesla and SpaceX billionaire have landed him in legal hot water on several occasions. But for the battery industry one boast stands out: a tweeted pledge to remove an obscure mineral mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo from the next generation of Tesla’s electric cars. Batteries are the key component in the electric car revolution that Tesla kickstarted, and each one contains cobalt. Yet concerns about human rights abuses and child labour have prompted a dual effort to… Read More Here

By halfway into 2019, it appeared that the DRC has finally reached the end of a very bumpy road. After a delayed election result, outsider Felix Tshisekedi was finally sworn in as president in January. Despite disputed election results and allegations of a back-room deal between former President Joseph Kabila and Tshisekedi, the country experienced its first election undertaken without widespread violence. For the mining sector, opposition leader and former Exxon Mobil director Martin Fayulu was the preferred choice as anticipated to revise the new mining code signed into law… Read More Here

As miners wait months to be paid, illegal mineral trafficking between DRC and Rwanda flourishes. RUBAYA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO – At the top of a hill in Rubaya, Masisi territory’s trading center, the word “Muderi” is very popular. That’s because it’s the name of the site where people mine large quantities of coltan and tin, minerals coveted for their widespread use in modern technologies like semiconductors for cars and mobile phones. At least six days a week, men, women and children are in constant motion. The children fetch water.… Read More Here

The management company of the Benguela Railroad (CFB) has received the first lot of 60 wagons of 300 ordered from Chinese company Sinotrans Changhang to boost cargo transport, particularly from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), to the port of Lobito, for export, the Angolan press reported. The chairman of CFB; Luís Teixeira, said that these 60 wagons had cost US$3.6 million and added that when the company has received the entire order, which would happen in the first half of 2020, it will have spent around US$23 million. The… Read More Here

Katanga Mining (TSX: KAT) announced Friday that its 75% owned subsidiary Kamoto Copper (KCC) has entered into an agreement with La Générale des Carrières et des Mines (Gécamines), its 25% joint venture partner in KCC, to acquire a land package from Gécamines covering areas adjacent to KCC’s existing mining concessions in the Democratic Republic of Congo. THE LAND KATANGA WILL ACQUIRE INCLUDES MULTIPLE BLOCKS OVER THE PREFERRED LOCATION FOR CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW LONG-TERM TAILINGS FACILITY Katanga, a big Congolese copper and cobalt producer, said last month it would raise around $5.8 billion via a rights issue as part of a debt-for-equity… Read More Here