On Wednesday, March 31, the head of the Congolese mining company Gécamines launched a new subsidiary called the General Company of Cobalt. ECG aims to establish the state monopoly on the purchase, processing, conversion, sale and export of artisanal cobalt, which corresponds to 20% of the total cobalt mined in the country. Democratic Republic of Congo is the leader in the sector with 67% of world production by 2020. Why today want to structure the sector, will diggers really benefit from the new manna promised? Interview with Albert Yuma, who is also chairman of EGC’s board.
RFI: You show the desire to “learn a lot about the Congolese economy”. How much is the lack of artisanal cobalt mining?
Albert Yuma: That’s about a billion dollars. The volume of craftsmen is estimated at between 18,000 and 20,000 tonnes of cobalt per year, but it can go up to 30,000 tonnes per year.
Identify these craft mines that you are interested in? How many are there?
Identified exactly, I can not tell, but they are all between Haut-Katanga and Lualaba. The important thing is that most of the concessions that host these illegal operations belong to Gécamines.
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Is not exploitation rather on concessions granted to foreign companies?
This is all ambiguity. These industrial mining companies are all partners in joint ventures with Gécamines. These so-called farms belonging to partners are therefore ultimately licensed by Gécamines, and Gécamines is therefore the loser.
How long will this transition take?state monopoly that you are aiming? Have any mines ever entered your bay?
Legally, according to the decree, the transition must take six months. From the moment EGC starts buying craft ore, all those who allow craft miners to work in their places will have six months to stop this activity and all diggers, even if they still take ore from claims owned by partners, will be forced to sell its production to EGC. But EGC will not have control. That is not its role, the state has createdArecoms,the Authority for Strategic Minerals. They are the ones who will ensure that the monopoly granted to EGC is respected by all.
► Listening and reading as well: DRC takes back its artisanal cobalt
Is it reasonable to believe that within six months, all artisanal cobalt will return to EGC??
It is a matter of political will. It may not be realistic, but it is a matter of political will. What the state loses, what the miners lose is worth being strict in the application of this measure.
Will concrete, will the miners benefit from this reform??
All this reform is focused on their interests. In 2019, President Tshisekedi was in Katanga and that is where he made the decision to control the artistic cobalt industry. The first victims are the craft mines: inhumane working conditions, prices set by traders of different nationalities with methods of calculating prices that I will not mention. Of course, they will make more money and will work under better conditions. EGC undertakes with its partners to prepare the sites, ensure that they are provided with protective equipment and, at the time of purchase, ensure transparency in the calculation of content, values, all in line with the world price.
What do you say to representatives of civil society who fear that these new resources will be used primarily to meet Gécamine’s debts??
(Laughs) There is an economic model that we are going to present. Revenue will be shared between excavators, the EGC and the Congolese state. It is the state that will win the most. This allows him to invest the better in his social action. EGC will be the one with the least income from this activity.
Does EGC want EGC to control the prices of cobalt internationally, more than today, and to play a role as Cobalt Opec for you??
Yes, that’s economic logic. OPEC is several producer countries, the first of which controls less than 20% of production and they manage to regulate the price. We in the Democratic Republic of the Congo control 80% of world production, why should we not have the right to control prices?
Is the creation of this subsidiary a way of saying: we made mistakes by leaving the industrial cobalt sector –which gives 80% of the production– in the hands of foreign companies, because it is the state, it is Gécamines who signed the agreements?
(Laughs) The truth, yes, it was a mistake, I always said it. What was done in the 21st century – to give our mineral wealth to foreign companies for nothing – was a serious mistake that must be corrected, both for cobalt and for the rest. We need to change that.
The EGC represents, you say, a “revolution for the Congo.” “If we succeed” what are your fears and the obstacles you will face?
It is the mafia system in place and against which we stand today. When it’s mafia, it’s often opaque.
Some condemn the influence of Chinese buyers in this supply chain of craft ore.
It’s too easy to say, are the industrialists there more virtuous?
Trafigura is your financial and commercial partner, with what equivalent?
Trafigura is an economic and commercial partner, but for customers selected by EGC. Trafigura will be replaced in accordance with the terms we will publish. But it is necessary that all mining operators and the large industrial companies that are rejected in subsidiaries, parent companies, also publish commercial contracts for all transactions in the DRC. This is EGC’s goal, transparency everywhere including in commercial contracts.
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