Cobalt
cobaltinvestingnews.com/121-the-democratic-republic-of-congo-and-the-future-of-cobalt-mining/
The DRC, rated by the IMF as the world’s poorest country, is widely regarded as the world’s richest in natural resources. The Congo’s staggering economic potential (the DRC contains five percent of the world’s copper and 50 percent of its cobalt) is matched only by its poverty. The Democratic Republic of Congo ranks last on the UN Human Development Index (HDI) rankings which represent an annual assessment of measures of progress in human well-being. Countries at the bottom of the list suffer from inadequate incomes, limited schooling opportunities and low life expectancy rates due to preventable diseases such as malaria and AIDS.The report stresses that a lot of the problems encountered by countries with low rankings are worsened by armed conflicts and its devastating consequences. Life expectancy in the Democratic Republic of Congo is less than 48 years, one of five children will die before age five and almost sixty percent of the country’s 75 million people live on less than $1.25 per day.
Africa’s resource-rich countries emerge from years of civil war with residual conflict zones, but in this case Congo is in a tragic class of its own. The enduring legacy of the Second Congo War is the continuing conflict in Congo’s eastern provinces...Known as the Kivu Conflict, in 2004 this armed struggle between government forces and rebel militias picked up the Second Congo War’s bloody baton and continues today due to innumerable artisanal mines funding a perpetual conflict whose brutality includes mass rape, mutilation, and murder. The UN believes over 50% of the region’s 200 mines are controlled by armed forces which employ illegal taxation, extortion, forced labor (involving abducted and enslaved children and adults in often dangerous underground working conditions), and violence to ensure the flow of mineral wealth. According to one CNN report eastern Congo’s armed groups generate some $180 million through the illicit trade of tin, coltan, tungsten, and gold which are easily traded across the porous eastern frontier and funneled into the international market…This volatile mixture of extraordinary mineral wealth, ethnic tension, and proxy armies has been reported by Nathan William Meyer in Deal of the Century: Will Chinese Investment Save Congo.
The copper deposits in the Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo are the world’s top producers of cobalt and the political situation in the Congo influences the price of cobalt significantly. The politically unstable Democratic Republic of Congo contains approximately half of known global cobalt reserves and 40-50 percent of incremental cobalt production, over the next five years, is anticipated to emanate from the DRC. Accessing a sustainable, and secure, supply of raw materials is going to become the number one priority for all countries. Increasingly countries will ensure their own industries have first rights of access to internally produced commodities and they will look for such privileged access from other countries. There can be absolutely no dispute that cobalt holds a critical role in the future green energy economy for its use in solar panels and in the blades and magnets for wind turbines and for its use in the rechargeable batteries used in electric vehicles and consumer electronics. Cobalt is also used in the high-speed, high-strength wear-resistant alloys that are used in aerospace and military technologies. Cobalt also has many industrial uses such as a catalyst in desulfurizing crude oil and in hydrogen generation oxidation. It is used in natural gas-to-liquid technology, orthopedics and life sciences.
More than two-thirds of the world’s cobalt is supplied by the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Demand for cobalt is expected to rise at about seven percent yoy to over 100,000 tonnes by 2016 and industry experts say more stable sources of cobalt are needed.The main minerals in the Democratic Republic of Congo are copper, cobalt, zinc, diamonds and columbo-tantalite (coltan). Cadmium, cassiterite (tin ore), gold, silver, wolframite and uranium are mined on a smaller scale. Most mining of base metals takes place in Katanga. Diamonds are mined in East and West Kasai. Smaller-scale production occurs in Equateur and Orientale province. Coltan and cassiterite have become important exports in Maniema, North and South Kivu. Orientale province and in South Kivu have large gold deposits. Based on 2006 reports, mining accounted for 16% of GDP in DRC. Most of the mining sector was nationalized in the 1970s. State-owned companies include:
-Générale des carrières et des mines (Gécamines): copper and cobalt mines in Katanga
-Miniere de Bakwanga (Miba):kimberlite diamond mining in Kasai
-Office des mines d'or de Kilo-Moto (Okimo): gold mines of Kilomoto
The Société minière et industrielle du Kivu (Sominki) which controls the gold and cassiterite deposits in Maniema and the Kivus remained in the private sector. Official cobalt production was 10,841 tons in 2006, excluding production from the parastatals joint ventures, international mining companies and artisanal mining. Artisanal diamond production increased from 19 million carats in 2003 to 29 million carats in 2005, but decreased to 26 million carats in 2006. After a rise in output in 2003-04, Miba's industrially mined kimberlite diamond production collapsed in 2006-07. Miba entered into several joint ventures with international diamond-mining companies during 2005-06, including SouthernEra (Canada) and De Beers (South Africa).
Recorded gold production is low, although the industry is almost entirely unregulated and smuggling of artisanal production to Uganda and Burundi has been rampant for years. International companies are exploring Kilomoto gold concessions in Orientale province, including AngloGold Ashanti (South Africa) and Moto Gold (Australia), but formal production has not started yet. In South Kivu, Banro (Canada) started exploring the Twangiza gold deposits in late 2004.
Although the DRC's formal mining sector declined during the war, output from informal mining increased. Informal mining includes activities without an official government-issued concession-mainly small-scale mining-which are not systematically recorded. According to IMF estimates, informal diamond mining in 2004 reached a record 22.1 million carats, compared to 8.8 million carats produced by formal industrial miners. Other informal mining activities include production of gold, coltan, cassiterite, heterogenite, silver, cadmium, magnesium, coal and zinc. However, there are no credible statistics on production for these products.
Cobalt
cobaltinvestingnews.com/121-the-democratic-republic-of-congo-and-the-future-of-cobalt-mining/
The DRC, rated by the IMF as the world’s poorest country, is widely regarded as the world’s richest in natural resources. The Congo’s staggering economic potential (the DRC contains five percent of the world’s copper and 50 percent of its cobalt) is matched only by its poverty. The Democratic Republic of Congo ranks last on the UN Human Development Index (HDI) rankings which represent an annual assessment of measures of progress in human well-being. Countries at the bottom of the list suffer from inadequate incomes, limited schooling opportunities and low life expectancy rates due to preventable diseases such as malaria and AIDS.The report stresses that a lot of the problems encountered by countries with low rankings are worsened by armed conflicts and its devastating consequences. Life expectancy in the Democratic Republic of Congo is less than 48 years, one of five children will die before age five and almost sixty percent of the country’s 75 million people live on less than $1.25 per day.
Africa’s resource-rich countries emerge from years of civil war with residual conflict zones, but in this case Congo is in a tragic class of its own. The enduring legacy of the Second Congo War is the continuing conflict in Congo’s eastern provinces...Known as the Kivu Conflict, in 2004 this armed struggle between government forces and rebel militias picked up the Second Congo War’s bloody baton and continues today due to innumerable artisanal mines funding a perpetual conflict whose brutality includes mass rape, mutilation, and murder. The UN believes over 50% of the region’s 200 mines are controlled by armed forces which employ illegal taxation, extortion, forced labor (involving abducted and enslaved children and adults in often dangerous underground working conditions), and violence to ensure the flow of mineral wealth. According to one CNN report eastern Congo’s armed groups generate some $180 million through the illicit trade of tin, coltan, tungsten, and gold which are easily traded across the porous eastern frontier and funneled into the international market…This volatile mixture of extraordinary mineral wealth, ethnic tension, and proxy armies has been reported by Nathan William Meyer in Deal of the Century: Will Chinese Investment Save Congo.
The copper deposits in the Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo are the world’s top producers of cobalt and the political situation in the Congo influences the price of cobalt significantly. The politically unstable Democratic Republic of Congo contains approximately half of known global cobalt reserves and 40-50 percent of incremental cobalt production, over the next five years, is anticipated to emanate from the DRC. Accessing a sustainable, and secure, supply of raw materials is going to become the number one priority for all countries. Increasingly countries will ensure their own industries have first rights of access to internally produced commodities and they will look for such privileged access from other countries. There can be absolutely no dispute that cobalt holds a critical role in the future green energy economy for its use in solar panels and in the blades and magnets for wind turbines and for its use in the rechargeable batteries used in electric vehicles and consumer electronics. Cobalt is also used in the high-speed, high-strength wear-resistant alloys that are used in aerospace and military technologies. Cobalt also has many industrial uses such as a catalyst in desulfurizing crude oil and in hydrogen generation oxidation. It is used in natural gas-to-liquid technology, orthopedics and life sciences.
More than two-thirds of the world’s cobalt is supplied by the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Demand for cobalt is expected to rise at about seven percent yoy to over 100,000 tonnes by 2016 and industry experts say more stable sources of cobalt are needed.The main minerals in the Democratic Republic of Congo are copper, cobalt, zinc, diamonds and columbo-tantalite (coltan). Cadmium, cassiterite (tin ore), gold, silver, wolframite and uranium are mined on a smaller scale. Most mining of base metals takes place in Katanga. Diamonds are mined in East and West Kasai. Smaller-scale production occurs in Equateur and Orientale province. Coltan and cassiterite have become important exports in Maniema, North and South Kivu. Orientale province and in South Kivu have large gold deposits. Based on 2006 reports, mining accounted for 16% of GDP in DRC. Most of the mining sector was nationalized in the 1970s. State-owned companies include:
-Générale des carrières et des mines (Gécamines): copper and cobalt mines in Katanga
-Miniere de Bakwanga (Miba):kimberlite diamond mining in Kasai
-Office des mines d'or de Kilo-Moto (Okimo): gold mines of Kilomoto
The Société minière et industrielle du Kivu (Sominki) which controls the gold and cassiterite deposits in Maniema and the Kivus remained in the private sector. Official cobalt production was 10,841 tons in 2006, excluding production from the parastatals joint ventures, international mining companies and artisanal mining. Artisanal diamond production increased from 19 million carats in 2003 to 29 million carats in 2005, but decreased to 26 million carats in 2006. After a rise in output in 2003-04, Miba's industrially mined kimberlite diamond production collapsed in 2006-07. Miba entered into several joint ventures with international diamond-mining companies during 2005-06, including SouthernEra (Canada) and De Beers (South Africa).
Recorded gold production is low, although the industry is almost entirely unregulated and smuggling of artisanal production to Uganda and Burundi has been rampant for years. International companies are exploring Kilomoto gold concessions in Orientale province, including AngloGold Ashanti (South Africa) and Moto Gold (Australia), but formal production has not started yet. In South Kivu, Banro (Canada) started exploring the Twangiza gold deposits in late 2004.
Although the DRC's formal mining sector declined during the war, output from informal mining increased. Informal mining includes activities without an official government-issued concession-mainly small-scale mining-which are not systematically recorded. According to IMF estimates, informal diamond mining in 2004 reached a record 22.1 million carats, compared to 8.8 million carats produced by formal industrial miners. Other informal mining activities include production of gold, coltan, cassiterite, heterogenite, silver, cadmium, magnesium, coal and zinc. However, there are no credible statistics on production for these products.