(Bloomberg) — Democratic Republic of Congo could see about 10 new mines for metals key to powering the green-energy transition within four years, according to the director of the country’s mining registry.
About 500 of the nation’s mining permits are in advanced development and will soon lead to new projects for lithium and cobalt — battery metals driving the electric vehicle revolution — while mines for copper, tin, tantalum and tungsten will also be built, Jean Felix Mupande told a conference in the southeast city of Lubumbashi. Congo is already the world’s No. 1 cobalt producer and Africa’s biggest copper miner.
“The essential exploration has been done and either the pre-feasibility study has already been prepared or is finished in the form of a definitive feasibility study,” Mupande said on Thursday.
While Congo’s mining industry has come under scrutiny for human-rights abuses and a related trade in illicit minerals, high-grade ore bodies and the recent surge in commodity prices have revived interest in one of the world’s poorest countries.
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