The DRC is a geological scandal as its mineral resources are important and diverse (copper, cobalt, coltan, gold, diamonds). The world’s leading producer of cobalt, a strategic raw material for the automotive industry, the DRC is also a major player for copper (1st  African producer) and gold.

The mining sector contributes more than 80% of the country’s export earnings.

 

• Copper - 1st African producer of copper about 672,272 tonnes in 2019 (5% of world production) and 5th in the world

• Cobalt - 1st world producer of cobalt (60% of world reserves) with 74,000 T strategic ore (associated with copper or nickel) which used in manufacture of automotive batteries and which is exported almost entirely to China

• Gold - Significant production located in the east of the country around 1,000 sites identified, the majority of the production is artisanal. Only 18 industrial companies are listed by the Ministry of mines. The official statistics are (442.16 Kg for artisanal and 30221.68 for industrial)

• Diamonds - The DRC produced 15,131,209.75 carats of diamonds, including 1,591,02354 carats of diamonds from industrial production and 11,929,412.21 carats from artisanal production, according to data published by the Ministry of Mines. Together the DRC exported 15,635,447.46 carats of diamonds in 2018 representing a value of 188,483,063 USD

• Coltan - Mainly artisanally mined in North and South Kivu, from coltant (Columbite-Tantalite), a rare metallic ore used for the production of electronic goods of mass consumption, such as mobile phones, laptops and video game consoles. The electronics industry reportedly buys 60-80% of the tantatile that is mostly smuggled

• Zinc - 7,800 T produced in 2016, production is relatively low, and the country has a significant deposit of zinc.

• Lithium and Uranium - The DRC has very large reserves in the province of Tanganyika. Surveys of various industrial groups, Chinese and Australian are underway for Lithium. No industrial exploitation yet at this stage

• Varieties of resources including expenses Timbers like Mukula, the DRC is also part of to more than half of the African forest (The basin of Congo) alone represents 10% of the world’s biodiversity and the Congo River which has a flow rate 40,000 cubic meters per second, has remarkable potential to supply all of central Africa with electricity.