Congo bans copper and cobalt concentrate exports to boost domestic processing

The Democratic Republic of Congo has prohibited exports of copper and cobalt concentrates, according to a government order reviewed by Reuters on Thursday, as the country intensifies its push to force domestic processing and capture greater value from its mineral wealth.

Congo, the world's largest cobalt supplier and a major producer of other energy-transition minerals such as copper, is seeking to leverage its dominant market position to build local processing capacity and retain a larger share of the revenues generated by its mining sector.

The June 29 order, signed by Mines Minister Louis Kabamba Watum, Foreign Trade Minister Julien Paluku Kahongya, and Economy Minister Daniel Mukoko Samba, explicitly states that "the export of copper and cobalt concentrates is prohibited."

The ban takes effect immediately, though the order allows for one-year export waivers to be granted under strategic circumstances, without providing further details. It also introduces a new tax framework with a three-month transition period for economically significant mining by-products.

Congo has previously imposed bans on copper and cobalt concentrate exports in 2013, 2019, and 2023, each time granting waivers where domestic smelting capacity fell short. The latest order repeals the 2023 decree and its exemptions, replacing them with a broader regulatory framework governing mineral exports and the taxation of mining by-products.

Congo primarily exports copper in refined form. Official data shows it exported 696,725 tons of copper cathodes in the first quarter of 2026, compared with 53,926 tons of copper concentrates containing 18,863 tons of copper metal. Over the same period, the country shipped 51,940 tons of cobalt hydroxides containing 17,054 tons of cobalt metal.

The new tax regime covers a wide range of minerals and stipulates that taxes on mining by-products apply to trace and ultra-trace minerals recovered during refining, using a 55% valuation coefficient, with royalties charged alongside those on the primary mineral.