Cobalt prices soar, but Congo’s small miners see little of the gain

– Benefits? –

But how much do the people of Congo benefit from the boom?

“Today the world’s biggest seller of cobalt is China,” said Congolese economist Musha. “The product clearly does not benefit the Congolese economy.”

The cobalt sector has attracted widespread criticism from NGOs for use of child labour, hazardous working conditions, corruption and theft.

Artisanal miners accounted for between 14 to 16 percent of the 80,800 tonnes of cobalt mined in the country last year, according to the London-based Darton Commodities, a specialist firm dealing in the metal.

The DRC would like to refine its minerals but has run into problems, notably infrastructural glitches like erratic power supplies.

There is some prospect of change.

The government last year signalled its intention to reform its 2002 mining code, which was seen as favouring foreign investors at the expense of the local economy.

It wants to ensure the repatriation of at least 40 percent of the revenue of minerals sold for export, and increase the fiscal take from “strategic minerals.”

At present, the state levies a tax of two percent on non-ferrous metals — copper and cobalt — which is based on the value of sales, from which some costs are deducted.

The current draft of the revised plan — now in the hands of President Joseph Kabila — sees this rising to 10 percent.

Shareholders in big mining corporations with interests in DRC have written to Kabila to express their concern, hoping that this version of the law will be revised, according to industry sources in Kinshasa.