Includes Copper, Tin, and Tungsten, Congo Sees Boom in Mining

According to the director of the Democratic Republic of Congo's mining registry, the country could see about 10 new metal mines in four years that include copper, tin, tantalum, and tungsten, with its key to powering the green energy transition.

Congo is already the world's No. 1 cobalt producer and Africa's largest copper miner. The country has about 500 mining licenses in the advanced development stage and will soon boost new projects for lithium and cobalt, the battery metals driving the electric car revolution, as well as building copper, tin, tantalum, and tungsten mines, Jean Felix Mupande, director of the mining registry, told a conference in the southeastern city of Lubumbashi.

In the past year, the price of lithium has soared more than fivefold, while cobalt is also climbing. While mining in Congo has come under scrutiny for human rights abuses and the associated illegal trade in minerals, high-grade ore bodies and the recent spike in commodity prices have revived interest in metals mining in one of the world's poorest countries.

A number of lithium deposits are being explored in the southeast of the country," Mupande said. Australia's AVZ Mining Ltd. is awaiting final permits for its Manono project, considered the world's largest undeveloped hard rock lithium mine. Toronto- and Johannesburg-listed Alphamin Resources Corp. also has new tin, tantalum and tungsten mines coming up around its massive tin project in eastern Congo."

It's a very promising area, and other mines will soon spring up," Mupande said. “Lack of capital is currently the 'Achilles heel' of the local industry. He called on junior miners to work with Congolese who also want to become major mine operators and could work with them to develop some of the more promising assets."

Mupande said, "The new joint venture with Canada's AJN Resources, which will explore for gold near Barrick Gold's Kibali mine and for lithium near AVZ's operations, could provide a model."

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