The Democratic Republic of the Congo banned exports of copper and cobalt concentrates on June 29, effective immediately. The country produces over 70% of the world’s mined cobalt and is Africa’s largest copper producer. The measure aims to keep economic value inside the country by forcing domestic processing of minerals instead of allowing refinement elsewhere. This decision will impact battery supply chains and crypto mining hardware, which rely on copper for electrical components and cobalt for lithium-ion batteries. This policy reflects a growing trend of resource nationalism among mineral-rich nations, similar to Indonesia’s nickel ore export ban in 2020.
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