ERG’s Congo cobalt site sees return of army-backed intruders

In the previous intrusion, a local company protected by Congolese soldiers had taken over a key section of a major copper-cobalt concession held by ERG’s Metalkol unit. An intervention by the armed forces subsequently cleared them out and seized their equipment.

A new “illegal occupation” in the same part of Metalkol’s permit near the city of Kolwezi began on Aug. 21 and is ongoing, ERG’s Africa division said by email. The incursion is being carried out by “armed men in uniform and groups of miners operating without authorization.”

The “government has been informed of the situation,” said the General Inspectorate of Mines, which is part of Congo’s Mines Ministry. “Appropriate measures are being implemented to ensure a lasting solution to this recurring issue,” a spokesperson said.

Congo’s National Defense & Veterans Ministry and Interior Ministry didn’t respond to requests for comment. Nor did a spokesperson for the subnational government in Lualaba province, where Metalkol is located.

The Central African country has some of the world’s richest deposits of copper, cobalt, tin, tantalum, gold, lithium and zinc. Cobalt has rallied sharply since early last year after Congo — the world’s dominant supplier of the battery metal — imposed export restrictions. 

Despite a recent decline, prices of cobalt hydroxide, the main product shipped from the African country, remain more than three times higher than when the curbs were introduced. Copper has been trading at an all-time high this week. 

So-called artisanal miners — sometimes supported by soldiers — often operate without permission, including on licenses belonging to international investors. The Mines Ministry is overseeing efforts to create zones where they are allowed to work.

Metalkol has the rights to reprocess more than 100 million tons of historic mine waste known as tailings and has become one of the top suppliers of cobalt. Only projects owned by CMOC Group Ltd. and Glencore Plc export more of the battery metal. The ERG unit is also a major producer of copper which is mined alongside cobalt in Congo.

The extraction of ore during the first occupation at Metalkol, which started in February and accelerated in April, was so organized that the activity threatened the venture’s commercial future, ERG previously said.

This time, the “theft of tailings” is also being “conducted on an industrial scale” by excavators and trucks operating around the clock, ERG said, estimating that around 700 tons of material is leaving the concession each day destined for nearby Chinese-owned plants. “Metalkol is unable to access the occupied area” due to the military presence, ERG said.

The earlier intrusion was carried out by a firm named Societe Cooperative Miniere Hosanna which claimed it had been authorized by the government, including the Interior Ministry, to clean up alleged pollution in the riverbed that contains most of Metalkol’s remaining reserves. Interior Minister Jacquemain Shabani previously told Bloomberg his ministry hadn’t granted permission to Hosanna.

ERG didn’t mention Hosanna in its statement about the latest events.

Last month, Mines Minister Louis Watum withdrew Hosanna’s approval to operate as a mining cooperative and issued Metalkol a 45-day notice to take “urgent measures” to clean up the river in its concession, according to letters seen by Bloomberg.

Metalkol is “working constructively” with the ministry’s environmental protection department to review relevant information and determine appropriate action, ERG said. The cooperation is taking place “without prejudice to the company’s position regarding the origin, cause or attribution of the environmental situation under review.”

These incursions “are occurring despite the highest instructions” of Congo’s president, ERG said.

(By William Clowes)