Browsing: Cobalt in Congo

• Lithium battery industry to grow over 30 percent annually from 2022 to 2030
• Market value for lithium batteries to exceed US$400 billion by 2030
• DRC, Zambia and Tanzania looking to refine cobalt, manufacture lithium batteries

The sale of Electric Vehicles (EVs) is booming in the transport industry of the developed world, and now Africa wants in.

Rather than continue to supply raw materials for the making of the electric vehicle, countries like DRC, Zambia, and Tanzania, want to refine the ores and even manufacture the final product, lithium batteries.

Their ambitions are well placed because the lithium battery industry is booming and will only keep growing. A 2022 analysis by the McKinsey Battery Insights team projected that the entire lithium-ion battery chain, from mining through recycling, could grow by over 30 percent annually by 2030 when it would reach a value of more than US$400 billion.

“Batteries for mobility applications, …

• DRC, through its investment portal ANAPI reassures investors
• Rwanda slams US statement saying it undermines regional peace process
• EAC Heads of State order immediate cease fire in Rwanda-DRC conflict

Rwanda should stop supporting the rebel group and withdraw its soldiers from the DRC, the US State Department has said in an official statement.

This US call for Rwanda to ‘cease and desist’ aiding rebel groups and to also recall its troops from the DRC is the latest effort by the international community to intervene in the protracted dispute between the two countries.

The US says Rwanda’s alleged aid to rebel factions in the DRC is undermining the regional peace process.

The statement comes only days after the East African Community (EAC) Heads of State met in the Burundi capital of Bujumbura. The meeting was an Extra-Ordinary Summit held to evaluate the “Security Situation in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo …

• Companies that purchase cobalt are said to engage in a “futile” exercise when they attempt to differentiate flows from industrial mines and the significant production from small-scale artisanal mining
• Buyers will only be able to fulfil an anticipated four-fold growth in global demand for cobalt by 2030 with ASM
• The DRC Congo was the world’s greatest producer of cobalt in 2022, producing 130,000 tonnes of the metal, roughly 68% of all cobalt mined worldwide

To meet the growing demand for the mineral used in batteries that power electric vehicles and consumer gadgets, changes are needed to legitimize the activities of unregulated artisanal mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Companies that purchase cobalt are said to engage in a “futile” exercise when they attempt to differentiate flows from industrial mines and the significant production from small-scale artisanal mining, or ASM, according to a paper released on Wednesday 8th Feb …

The DRC investment summit is a creative tool used by the nation to attract global investment stakeholders. According to the summit organizers, the summit brings together international investors, businesses, developers, and policymakers to attract and retain investment, as well as discuss trends that influence economic growth in the DRC.

DRC is arguably one of Africa’s richest countries in terms of natural resources, but it still ranks lower in investment performance.

Furthermore, DRC’s Human Capital index is 0.3 percent below the SSA average of 4 percent.

DRC has the world’s third-largest human population of impoverished people, which the WB argued remains widespread and is increasing due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.…

The search for Congo’s cobalt has shown how the clean energy revolution has taken a turn. It is to save the planet from rising temperatures in an age of enlightened self-interest. But it has become mired in a familiar cycle of exploitation, greed, and deception. This often benefits Africa little or not at all.

On November 24, 2021, a group of G7 countries, including Japan and the US made a decision. They stated they will withdraw crude oil from their Strategic Petroleum Reserve. (SPR). The SPR was an underground salt tank in Utah, turned into a recession and warproof facility. It was in reaction to the twin World Trade Center explosions on September 11, 2001.…

For many in Africa, the concept of an electric vehicle is still new, by the time these futuristic automobiles become popular in Africa, land rights in the Congo may very well be buried deep in the cobalt mines.

 Did you know, the Democratic Republic of the Congo produces more than half of the world’s supply of cobalt? You probably did not, neither did I. Here is another fun fact, did you know cobalt is the mineral that powers your phone battery, your laptop battery and most all your rechargeable batteries?

I bet you were also not aware that this bluish mineral that is found in a dull brownish ore of dirt is used in hospital labs for imaging, for cancer radiotherapy and even for sterilizing medical equipment.

Cobalt is also in the component that stores solar energy in the solar panels that have now become popular solution to Africa’s energy …