Why mountain of copper may mean nothing to Congolese
A general view of the processing facilities at the Tenke Fungurume mine, one of the world's largest copper and cobalt mines, in south-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on June 17, 2023.
Massive quantities of copper deposits were discovered when a mountain collapsed in the Grand-Katanga area, south of the Democratic Republic of Congo, bringing with it the usual questions about resource sharing.
This exposition of the copper ores has become the talk of town in many places in the DRC and beyond. Yet it is nothing unusual. The Congo was once labelled as the “geological scandal” after Belgians discovered the country’s mineral potential.
In 2024, 118 years after the creation of Union Minière du Haut-Katanga (now Gécamines), Congo's first major industrial mining company, new deposits continue to be discovered.
For experts, this phenomenon highlights the region's mineral wealth and the vast, rich potential of the DRC's mining industry.
Since 2015, several deposits have been discovered, even in inhabited areas, as it happened in Kolwezi and several other cities in the Lualaba province in southern Congo, where residential houses stand next to industrial mining deposits. Those villages are now in danger of being swallowed up by gaping mines.
In November 2023, the Canadian company Ivanhoe announced the discovery of 21 million tonnes of mineral resources grading 3.56 percent copper in the south of the DRC.
This was the third-largest and highest-grade copper discovery in the world in seven years. In 2016, Ivanhoe had discovered other deposits at Kakula, also in the south of the DRC.
According to a former Congolese mining minister, only 20 percent of the DRC's subsoil had been explored by Belgian colonists. To continue the exploration work, in 2017 the Congolese government created the National Geological Service, whose job is to undertake research to discover minerals underground.
The discovery of new deposits has been made in the southern region of the DRC that covers the "Copperbelt" a mining region that stretches from Zambia to Congo.
This area is particularly coveted for its natural resources. China and the United States of America are in competition. Washington has shown recent ambition to be active in the exploitation and transport of mining products in this region.
The US is working to launch the Lobito Corridor with the aim of linking mineral-rich regions to this Angolan port of Lobito. But Joe Biden’s administration is now to be taken over by Donald Trump, a transactional business politician who might just enhance the rivalry with China, if it makes business sense.
Copper deposits, which are often accompanied by cobalt, are also a major asset in the transition from a fossil-fuelled economy to a clean one.
Several forecasts, including one by Wood Mackenzie, predicted that the DRC would overtake Peru by 2026-2027. The Congo fulfilled this prediction well ahead of the Wood Mackenzie deadline, overtaking Peru in 2023.
The DRC exported 2.84 million tonnes of copper in 2023, according to statistics from the Ministry of Mines. Congo is now ranked as the world's second-largest copper producer, behind Chile.
Copper is mainly mined in the DRC by 20 companies, including Chinese giant CMOC at the Tenke Fungurume and Kisanfu mines, Canada's Ivanhoe Mines at Kamoa-Kakula, and Switzerland's Glencore. Gécamines, the state-owned company, produced just one percent of the DRC's copper output in 2023.
But the question by some politicians is whether the latest discovery will mean anything for the Congolese. Despite this enormous wealth, the people of the DRC are among the poorest on the continent.
A World Bank overview says 73.5 percent of the population live on $2.15 a day, and one in six Congolese live in extreme poverty, that is unable to guarantee basic needs – food, clothing, shelter, education and healthcare. Experts blame it on Congo’s history of political instability.
“Most people in DRC have not benefited from this wealth. A long history of conflict, political upheaval and instability, and authoritarian rule have led to a grave, ongoing humanitarian crisis. In addition, there has been forced displacement of populations,” the World Bank says. “These features have not changed significantly since the end of the Congo Wars in 2003.”
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