The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has appointed Kompay Koko Ngiemi as interim director general of its artisanal mining agency while the government tightens controls over mineral production and trading in the country's copper-cobalt region.
Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have detained around 300 Chinese nationals in a crackdown on suspected illegal mining in the country’s copper belt, with most of the detentions reported in Kolwezi, a major copper and cobalt mining centre.
Ivanhoe Mines has increased the mineral resource at its Makoko District copper discovery in the DRC by 30%, to roughly 12 million tonnes of contained copper, on the back of an aggressive 2026 drilling campaign.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange hit a fresh record near $14,635 a tonne on 8 September 2026, driven by tariff-related trade distortion and falling DRC output.
Ivanhoe Mines expanded its Makoko copper discovery in the DRC by 30% to about 12 million tonnes of contained copper, and plans a scoping study for early 2027.
US imports of refined copper from the DRC reached a record 53,290 tonnes in July, exceeding the volume imported throughout 2024, as Chinese purchases from Congo declined.
The UK's Serious Fraud Office settled a lawsuit over its investigation into ENRC, the predecessor of Eurasian Resources Group, tied to bribery allegations in DRC mining contracts.
CrossBoundary Energy's solar and battery storage facility for Kamoa Copper reached commercial operation, supplying 30MW of continuous renewable power to the DRC copper complex.
The DRC and Angola have signed a new US-backed agreement on the Lobito Corridor, aiming to cut copper and cobalt transit times from roughly 30 days to a week or less as Washington competes with Chinese-backed routes.
Mota-Engil is set to sign a 30-year concession to rehabilitate and operate the DRC section of the Lobito Corridor railway, backed by up to $1bn in US financing.
Zambia and the DRC have signed a bilateral agreement to streamline customs at Kasumbalesa and Mokambo, aiming to cut truck queue times that currently average 72 hours.
Tanzania is building four new berths at Dar es Salaam after record cargo throughput, while the DRC has announced plans for a dedicated dry port there to clear its mineral exports.
A wave of sustainability-linked mining bonds was in development across Zambia and the DRC as of 24 July 2026, aiming to raise over $100m per deal to formalise artisanal miners and fund shared infrastructure alongside industrial projects.
The Manono lithium project in the DRC, controlled by China's Zijin Mining, received certification for its first export batch in July 2026, making the country a lithium producer for the first time.
The International Energy Agency said the copper supply outlook has worsened significantly, warning DRC mines reliant on sulphuric acid leaching face a strong set of near-term challenges.
The DRC said it expects no major disruption to copper and cobalt production despite Middle East supply-chain pressure, reporting first-quarter copper exports of 824,000 tonnes.
Lobito Atlantic Railway received its first copper shipment from the DRC in about two months after repairing flood-damaged track, restoring a key Congolese export route.
Lobito Atlantic Railway has resumed carrying Congolese copper after floods in Angola's Benguela province cut the line in April 2026, restoring a key mineral export route to the Atlantic.
Trafigura, Aurubis and Kamoa Copper completed the first sale of low-carbon refined copper shipped from the DRC to Europe via the Lobito Atlantic Railway.
Wood Mackenzie estimated that sulphur supply disruption from the Iran war could remove up to 125,000 tonnes of copper output in the DRC, as acid prices more than doubled.
Ivanhoe Mines' Kipushi mine in the DRC set a new monthly zinc production record in May, putting it on course to become the world's fourth-largest zinc producer this year.
Zambia has cleared Chambishi Copper Smelter and Mopani Copper Mines to resume limited sulphuric acid exports to the DRC, after domestic stocks recovered from months of shortage.
The DRC is seeking a stake in the $270m Kalumbila-Kolwezi power interconnector after Zambia's energy regulator approved construction, a line designed to carry up to 550MW between the two countries' copperbelts.
The DRC is weighing a stake in a $270m power link to Zambia to ease electricity shortages in its copper belt, as mining expansion outpaces the domestic grid.
