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Events/Rush · 2000

DRC cobalt boom

Rush, 2000 to 2020, DR Congo.

What happened

DRC cobalt mine output rose from 11,000 t in 2000 to 98,000 t in 2020, according to a USGS study. Cobalt demand for batteries grew 26-fold over the same years. Artisanal output peaked around 2008 at 40 to 53 percent of DRC output and was 9 to 11 percent by 2020.1,2,3

Why it matters

USGS finds most artisanal cobalt was processed by Chinese firms in the DRC or exported to China.1,2,3

Story cards

Around the same time

  1. Shaba invasions trigger a cobalt market panic

    The shock made Western governments worry about cobalt supply from central Africa and still shapes talk of critical minerals.3,4,5

  2. Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines formed

    ZCCM was the vehicle for state ownership and later for the privatisation of the Copperbelt.6,7

  3. DRC cobalt boom

    USGS finds most artisanal cobalt was processed by Chinese firms in the DRC or exported to China.1,2,3

  4. Angola awards a 30-year Benguela Railway concession

    The Lobito Atlantic Railway consortium took over the Angolan line (some sources date the award to 2023).8,9

  5. Congo (Kinshasa) temporarily bans cobalt exports

    USGS records a temporary export ban in February to address oversupply and low prices.10

  6. DRC mines 230,000 t of cobalt

    USGS records 230,000 t of cobalt mined in Congo (Kinshasa) in 2025.10

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Where next

Mines

Located inKamoto Copper Company (KCC) / Katanga Mining ComplexKatanga Mining made 23,900 t of cobalt in hydroxide in 2020.11Located inMutandaMutanda went to care and maintenance at the end of 2019 because of low cobalt prices.12Came out ofKamoa-KakulaRead what happened near Kamoa-Kakula: DRC cobalt boom.13

Events

Came out ofShaba invasions trigger a cobalt market panicAfter the 1978 panic, DRC cobalt output grew from 11,000 t in 2000 to 98,000 t in 2020.1

Places

Located inKolweziSee the place where this happened: Kolwezi.1

Trade routes

Shipped throughCongolese cobalt to ChinaMost artisanal cobalt was processed by Chinese firms in the DRC or exported to China.1

Sources

  1. China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and artisanal cobalt mining from 2000 through 2020 (publication page) US Geological Survey
  2. China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and artisanal cobalt mining from 2000 through 2020 PNAS (S. Gulley, via Europe PMC)
  3. Kolwezi (item Q271404), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  4. Investigation of U.S. Foreign Reliance on Critical Minerals, OFR 2020-1127 US Geological Survey
  5. Statement of Charles G. Groat, Director, USGS US Geological Survey
  6. About ZCCM-IH (history) ZCCM Investments Holdings
  7. Copperbelt Province (item Q1131523), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  8. From Transit to Transformation: Leveraging the Lobito Corridor (Angola Economic Update) World Bank
  9. Wikidata item Q223914 (Lobito)
  10. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Cobalt U.S. Geological Survey
  11. data/minerals/operations.csv Prospector Trails (internal)
  12. Minerals Yearbook 2020-21, volume III: The Mineral Industry of the Democratic Republic of the Congo US Geological Survey
  13. 2025 production results and 2026 guidance, 15 January 2026 Ivanhoe Mines

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Malachite on cobaltocalcite, Musonoi by Ji-Elle, CC BY-SA 3.0. Pictures: Kopermijn te Kolwezi in de provincie Shaba (Katanka), Mieremet, Rob / Anefo / Europeana (Public Domain Mark 1.0); Chiquicamata Mine, Chile, NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Space Systems, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (Public domain (NASA media, no copyright)).