The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has extended its waiver on copper concentrate export from the country until April 12, 2021.
According to media reports, the DRC government has placed a moratorium on mineral exports from the country indefinitely except copper concentrate, for which a date of review has been decided. The authorities had initially placed this ban in 2013, to increase the country’s smelting and refining capabilities to establish a full chain of copper supply, from mining to downstream, within the country.
This ban is similar to the one in Indonesia, where nickel concentrate export was banned in January, for identical purposes. While Congo is the largest copper producer in Africa, Indonesia is the largest producer of nickel in the world.
On Aug 27, the DRC government rescinded the ban, but has now put an end date to the waiver and will be in discussions with local miners and processing companies to come to a decision in the April 2021 review. Congo produced 765,000mt of copper concentrate in 2019.