KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo – The Democratic Republic of Congo has banned exports of copper and cobalt concentrates with immediate effect, escalating an African push to keep more mineral processing, industrial jobs and tax revenue inside producing countries instead of shipping raw value abroad.
A joint order signed on June 29 by Mines Minister Louis Watum Kabamba, Foreign Trade Minister Julien Paluku Kahongya and Economy Minister Daniel Mukoko Samba states: “the export of copper and cobalt concentrates is prohibited.” Reuters obtained the order and reported the measure on August 6. The government permits one-year waivers only under strategic circumstances.
Kinshasa has tried similar restrictions before. Governments introduced concentrate export bans in 2013, 2019 and 2023, then granted exemptions when domestic smelters lacked enough capacity. The latest directive repeals the 2023 framework and replaces previous exemptions with a broader system covering mineral exports and taxation of economically significant mining by-products.
The policy targets a familiar African economic problem. Congo supplies minerals essential to electric vehicles, electricity grids, electronics and defence industries, yet foreign processing centres capture large portions of downstream value. Government officials want mining companies to sell products with greater domestic value addition. Congo’s Mines Ministry said during consultations in June the reform seeks stronger local transformation and more value for the national economy.
The stakes reach global markets. US Geological Survey data identifies Congo as the world’s leading cobalt producer and the second-ranked producer of mined copper. In 2024, Congo supplied about 75 percent of global cobalt output and 13 percent of mined copper production. More recent industry estimates place Congo’s 2025 mined copper output near 3.4 million tonnes.
Copper traders reacted quickly. After Reuters reported the directive, three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rose as much as 1.8 percent to US$14,369.50 per tonne, close to the record reached in January. Markets understand Congo’s ability to influence supply expectations.
The immediate physical effect looks smaller than the headline suggests because Congo already refines most copper inside the country. Official first-quarter data showed exports of 696,725 tonnes of copper cathodes, against 53,926 tonnes of concentrate containing 18,863 tonnes of copper metal. Congo also exported 51,940 tonnes of cobalt hydroxide containing 17,054 tonnes of cobalt during the same period.
Christian-Geraud Neema of the China-Global South Project told Reuters the ban should not severely disrupt most operators because domestic refining already handles most Congolese copper and cobalt. He identified Kamoa-Kakula among operations facing greater exposure because the complex still exports some concentrate under exemptions.
Ivanhoe Mines operates Kamoa-Kakula with China’s Zijin Mining and the Congolese government. Ivanhoe said the complex has received several export exemptions since production started in 2021. The company also said Kamoa-Kakula now sends copper concentrate to its on-site smelter or the Lualaba copper smelter in Kolwezi.
The wider policy reaches a mining sector dominated by global groups including CMOC, Glencore, Zijin, Huayou-linked operations, Ivanhoe and Eurasian Resources Group. Direct exposure differs by company because product form, processing capacity and export arrangements differ. Glencore, for example, already manages separate cobalt export quotas for Katanga Copper Company and Mutanda under Congo’s 2025 cobalt market-control system.
Kinshasa also wants more revenue from material previously treated as secondary. The directive introduces a new tax regime for trace and ultra-trace minerals recovered during refining. Authorities will apply a 55 percent valuation coefficient and royalties alongside charges on the principal mineral after a three-month transition.
This provision deserves attention. Copper-cobalt ores often contain commercially valuable secondary minerals. A government which taxes only the headline commodity risks losing revenue when refiners recover additional value from by-products. Congo now wants a larger fiscal claim across the full mineral stream.
The Congolese move forms part of a wider African shift away from the old mine-and-export model.
Zimbabwe suspended exports of raw minerals and lithium concentrates in February, arguing local beneficiation should capture more value and reduce mineral leakages. Harare has also pressed lithium miners to build sulphate plants before tougher concentrate restrictions take effect.
Kenyan President William Ruto announced in April Kenya would stop exporting raw minerals and direct producers toward domestic processing. Kenya’s draft Minerals, Mining and Beneficiation Policy 2026 seeks to raise mining’s contribution to gross domestic product from about one percent toward 10 percent by 2030.
Malawi imposed a prohibition on raw mineral exports in October 2025, while Namibia has pursued restrictions and domestic beneficiation requirements around selected critical minerals. Guinea has tightened control over bauxite exports and pressed miners toward local refining and infrastructure investment.
Africa’s argument is becoming harder for global mining groups to ignore. Extracting ore, trucking concentrate to a port and shipping processing jobs overseas leaves producing countries with royalties, taxes and wages from the earliest stage of a much larger industrial chain.
Local processing promises more jobs, engineering knowledge, electricity demand, industrial suppliers and tax revenue. Success still depends on infrastructure. Smelters need dependable electricity. Refineries need water, chemicals, transport, skilled labour and large amounts of capital.
Congo has struggled with power shortages for years. Earlier export restrictions repeatedly required exemptions because processing capacity lagged behind political ambition. A prohibition without enough smelters risks stockpiles, production cuts, lost tax receipts and weaker investor confidence.
Kinshasa therefore needs to pair enforcement with power generation, rail, roads, industrial zones and predictable licensing. Government also needs transparent rules for strategic waivers. Exemptions granted behind closed doors would recreate the same system under another name.
The policy sends a larger message to Washington, Beijing and Europe.
Foreign governments increasingly describe African copper, cobalt, lithium, graphite and rare earths as strategic resources. African governments are starting to ask why strategic importance should enrich foreign refineries more than African economies.
Congo holds unusual leverage because buyers cannot easily replace its cobalt volumes and global copper demand keeps rising.
The test now concerns execution.
If Congo builds enough processing capacity, enforces rules equally and directs new mineral revenue toward infrastructure, the ban will mark a serious move from extraction toward industrialisation.
If exemptions multiply, electricity stays inadequate and politically connected operators receive special treatment, another export prohibition will change paperwork more than economic structure.
Congo has supplied the world with critical minerals for decades.
Kinshasa now wants the world to buy more value from Congo, not merely more rock.
