Democratic Republic of Congo’s lithium miners could soon be required to triple royalty payments after the government approved the inclusion of several metals to its list of strategic minerals.
Tantalum, niobium, tungsten, uranium and rare earths were also added to the list through a decree approved by the country’s council of ministers on Friday, according to a video posted on the mines ministry’s X account.
Strategic minerals are subject to 10% royalties instead of the usual 3.5% for non-ferrous metals under the country’s mining code. Cobalt, germanium and Colombo-tantalite — or coltan — are already on the list.
“The objective is to allow our country to profit from the critical and geo-strategic character of the endowments found in its soil,” according to meeting minutes read out in the video.
Congo is home to one of the world’s largest hard-rock lithium deposits in its south-eastern region, which are being mined for the first time this year.
China’s Zijin Mining Group Co. is set to commission its Manono lithium project in June, while KoBold Metals Co. launched what it called the world’s biggest lithium exploration project in April.
The companies didn’t immediately respond to messages sent Sunday outside normal work hours.
According to the US Geological Survey, Congo is the world’s biggest source of tantalum, which is extracted from coltan and used in portable electronics. The mineral is mainly dug by hand in the country’s eastern provinces, which are also rich in tungsten and niobium.
While Congo no longer produces uranium at an industrial scale, its dormant Shinkolobwe mine was the source of material for the US atomic bomb produced by the Manhattan Project.
(By Michael J. Kavanagh)
