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Democratic Republic of Congo’s top cobalt producer is Glencore. The Swiss-based global trading company operates the Mutanda mine near Kolwezi though the Kamoto Copper Company (KCC) joint venture of its wholly-owned subsidiary Katanga Mining (75%), state-owned Gécamines (20%) and a smaller local company, Simco (5%). KCC produced 23,900t of the blue metal in 2020. 

Republic of Congo (RoC) and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have agreed to move ahead with an ambitious ‘energy friendship loop’, which aims to connect the Eni-operated Centrale Electrique du Congo (CEC) gas-fired power plant in Pointe-Noire with the Inga hydroelectric dam and the two capitals of Kinshasa and Brazzaville.

The East African Community (EAC)’s Council of Ministers voted on 22 November to recommend Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)’s admission to the regional body at their 44th extraordinary meeting. Negotiations will follow before heads of state give their final approval to make DRC the bloc’s seventh member.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has launched its Scaling Mini-Grids (SMG) programme with a project the World Bank Group (WBG) affiliate says will give 1.5m Congolese, and critical infrastructure such as schools and hospitals, access to energy.

President Félix Tshisekedi’s efforts to revive Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)’s attraction to international oil companies (IOCs) are admirable on paper, as are his efforts to revive – and bring improved governance to – the crucial energy and mining sectors. Having broken with his alliance of convenience with ex-president Joseph Kabila, Tshisekedi’s government is looking for takers for blocks 1 and 2 in the Albertine Graben, and there is talk of a new licensing round, with plans to tender for 16 oil and three gas blocks in the onshore Atlantic basin, Cuvette Centrale and the western Rift Valley.

President Tshisekedi is seeking to make waves in upstream oil policy, just as he has in the power and mining sectors since breaking away from his alliance with Joseph Kabila. With the Kabila legacy in question over the controversial Albertine Graben fields, more legal disputes could beckon, but the government sees considerable investment upside, despite the outlook for hydrocarbons looking very different from a decade ago, writes François Misser

President Félix Tshisekedi’s promotion of potentially radical change has accelerated since the appointment in April of Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde Kyenge, and the end of his alliance of convenience with the pro-Kabila Front Commun pour le Congo coalition (AE 433/23).

Japan’s Inpex announced on 27 October it had sold its longstanding interest in the Offshore DR Congo Block to Perenco Energies International. Inpex’s 32.28% participating interest in the block had been held via Teikoku Oil.

The 14.6MW Lubero hydroelectric power (HEP) plant is operating at full capacity and is expected to start commercial operations on 1 November, Virunga Foundation has told African Energy.

China under President Xi Jinping has shifted markedly from its position of not intervening in foreign conflicts – even in a multilateral context – and positioning its forces far from the People’s Republic. Beijing has stepped up its military presence in Africa over the last decade, in large part through its contributions to United Nations peace-keeping missions.

Controversy continues to dog financing from China, the world’s largest bilateral lender by a distance. Its debt provision has transformed the African funding landscape over the past two decades: according to African Energy Live Data, $38bn of Chinese investment was committed to power projects across the continent between 2014 and 2019 alone.

A major investment in Democratic Republic of Congo, Kamoa-Kakula is set to become Africa’s largest copper producer by Q2 2022, in a market entrepreneur Robert Friedland says will be “psychedelic”. It will be powered by the 162MW Inga II upgrade as developers work to better exploit DRC’s world-scale hydropower resource, writes Marc Howard

In a further sign of the importance of renewable energy and storage to Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) miners, France’s Tractafric has commissioned a 7.5MW battery storage system for the Kibali gold mine’s 74.5MW micro-grid in Haut-Uele province.

The government is reviewing the $6bn infrastructure-for-minerals deal concluded by then President Joseph Kabila Kabange and Chinese investors, in the context of a broader examination of mining contracts, finance minister Nicolas Kazadi told Reuters on 27 August.

In an important recognition of President Félix Tshisekedi’s enhanced grip on power, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on 15 July approved Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)’s first programme since 2012, to support “a fragile state with recurring health and security crises, high macroeconomic volatility and weak institutions”