section_path: Economy/Mining
section_name: Mining
paragraph_text: Mining
  
  The mining sector has been responsible for much of the DRC's economic growth since the Second Congo War. The DRC is the world's largest producer of cobalt ore, accounting for 70% of global production in 2023, and a major producer of copper and diamonds. It has 70% of the world's coltan, a third of its cobalt, more than 30% of its diamond reserves, and a tenth of its copper. In February 2018, global asset management firm AllianceBernstein defined the DRC as economically "the Saudi Arabia of the electric vehicle age," because of its cobalt resources, cobalt being essential in the production of the lithium-ion batteries that power many electric vehicles. Diamonds come from Kasaï Province in the central DRC, though by far the largest mines are located in southern Katanga Province and are highly mechanized, with a capacity of several million tons per year of copper and cobalt ore, and refining capability for metal ore. The DRC is the second-largest diamond-producing nation in the world, and artisanal and small-scale miners account for most of its production.
  
  Smaller-scale economic activity from artisanal mining occurs in the informal sector and is not reflected in GDP data. A third of the DRC's diamonds are believed to be smuggled out of the country, making it difficult to quantify diamond production levels. In 2002, tin was discovered in the east of the country but to date has only been mined on a small scale. Smuggling of conflict minerals such as coltan and cassiterite, ores of tantalum and tin, respectively, helped to fuel the war in the eastern Congo. Open-pit cobalt mining has led to deforestation and habitat destruction.
  
  Katanga Mining Limited, a Swiss-owned company, owns the Luilu Metallurgical Plant, which has a capacity of 175,000 tonnes of copper and 8,000 tonnes of cobalt per year, making it the largest cobalt refinery in the world. After a major rehabilitation program, the company resumed copper production operations in December 2007 and cobalt production in May 2008.
  
  During 2007–08, Joseph Kabila's administration entered a 'resources-for-infrastructure' deal with China, creating the joint venture Sicomines (Sino-Congolais des Mines), with the majority of the shares owned by the China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC) while the DRC's Gécamines owned the rest. The company received mining rights in exchanged for investing US$3 billion into building infrastructure. Sicomines began production in 2015. The deal has received criticized for terms that appeared to be disproportionately favorable to China at the expense of the DRC. Félix Tshisekedi's administration ordered an investigation into the deal, which concluded that less than US$1 billion had been spent on infrastructure. Tshisekedi renegotiated the agreement to add new terms, and in 2024 this led to the infrastructure investment being increased to US$7 billion.
  
  In April 2013, anti-corruption NGOs revealed that Congolese tax authorities had failed to account for $88 million from the mining sector, despite booming production and positive industrial performance. The missing funds date from 2010 and tax bodies should have paid them into the central bank. Later in 2013, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative suspended the country's candidacy for membership due to insufficient reporting, monitoring and independent audits, but in July 2013 the country improved its accounting and transparency practices to the point where the EITI gave the country full membership.