The government has adopted new guidelines on cobalt sampling to streamline exports of the strategic metal, which had been slowed down since the introduction of quotas five months ago.
The DRC will now allow mining companies to export their cargoes while discrepancies between the results of laboratory analyses used by the State and those of the companies are being resolved.
“Streamlining Operations”
These measures aim to “guarantee the smooth flow of export operations, the legal certainty of exporters, as well as the protection of the State’s fiscal interests,” according to a decree signed on March 13 by the Minister of Finance, Doudou Fwamba, and the Minister of Mines, Louis Watum.
ARECOMS had suspended all cobalt shipments in February 2025 before replacing this ban with strict quotas starting in mid-October. Several additional months were required for the new export rules, notably the prepayment of royalties to the State, to become operational.
Exports remained sluggish, with mining companies struggling to move their entire quarterly allocations out of the country. ARECOMS has already granted companies until the end of the month to ship the volumes allocated to them for the final months of 2025.
The decree signed by the Ministers of Mines and Finance specifically addresses the analysis of samples used to determine the metal content in batches of cobalt hydroxide produced in Congolese mines. These results verify the companies’ compliance with quotas and calculate the royalties owed to the State. In some cases, minor discrepancies appear between the measurements from laboratories mandated by state regulators and those of the companies.
The document instructs public administrations not to halt shipments in the event of discrepancies in most situations. State bodies must “ensure the proper continuity of export operations,” the text specifies.
Leverage to Control the Market
ARECOMS is only authorizing 96,600 tons of cobalt to leave the country in 2026 and 2027, which is less than half of the national production in 2024. CMOC Group, a Chinese giant and the world’s leading producer of the metal—used in electric vehicle batteries as well as in the aerospace and defense sectors—is the company most affected by these measures.
The government implemented these controls to support cobalt prices, which had fallen to historically low levels amid a supply glut. Since then, the metal has surged by approximately 160%, while cobalt hydroxide, the primary product exported from the Congo, has more than quadrupled, according to Fastmarkets data.
The decree provides for the creation of a commission that will meet monthly to examine metal content discrepancies greater than 2%. This commission will also make definitive rulings on the official export volumes from the previous month.
Source: Bloomberg