Declared a strategic substance by Decree No. 18/042 of Prime Minister Bruno Tshibala, cobalt is in free fall on the international market. As of February 14, 2019, the green metal traded at 32,000 Usd per ton, while in March 2018 it traded at 95,000 Usd. Yet industry analysts thought the ore would burst the historic record of US $ 115,000 per ton in June 2008.
In his analysis, expert Léonide Mupepele demonstrates that the objective sought by the Government through its decree was clearly pecuniary. Especially since it was a question of obtaining additional tax revenues, taking advantage of the economic situation, to subject the exports of cobalt to the highest rate of the mining royalty. This royalty is calculated at 10% of the gross market value, in accordance with Article 241 of the new Mining Code revised in March 2018. This mining expert finds that the Government has taken its decree without relying on the imperative to give itself the means of influencing the fate of the metal. "The DR Congo was right to declare the cobalt" strategic metal? "Asked Léonide Mupepele.
"In the case of the industrialized countries, when a substance is declared strategic, the objective is generally to put the tributary industrial sectors safe from possible shortages. As a result, the states organize themselves to give themselves the means to control the flows of the material by having, by specialized structures, the world reserves, the productions and annual sales realized by producing country, as well as the stocks in the warehouses of different stockmarkets, "explains Leonide Mupepele. He argues that in the case of the Congo, the metal was declared strategic without the Government having put in place a device that would affect the price of cobalt. " Whereas, because of its quasi-monopoly position in this market segment (the country currently produces 80% of the world supply), the DRC is able to take control of flows in this market and influence prices accordingly,"he notes. The expert estimates that at the current price of US $ 32,000 per tonne, not only the additional revenue expected by the Government is derisory, "but at such low prices, the 10% mining royalty rate applied for this metal becomes a disadvantage the mining companies, which, in addition to the already heavy local mining and subsidy charges, have to face the costs of marketing and metallurgical treatment in the Chinese factories for products exported in the form of relatively low cobalt-containing elements, but heavily loaded with water.Léonide Mupepele deduces that it is obviously in the interest of the Congo to see the cobalt market practice high prices. "
But we must not pull too much on the rope and I think that the country should organize to keep prices around 55 to 60,000 Usd per ton. A cobalt price that goes beyond this range would quickly become a barrier to the growth of electric mobility in addition to encouraging manufacturers to turn more to batteries consuming less cobalt,"he said. advised. On the other hand, cobalt at less than US $ 55,000 per tonne would not be the case for miners in relation to a royalty paid at the rate of 10% of the gross market price, he says. Lepetit Baende
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