Commodity merchants Trafigura Group and Mercuria Vitality Group are among the many bidders for Gecamines’ Tenke cobalt, the individuals mentioned. Tenke exported 361,000 tons of copper and 23,000 tons of cobalt final 12 months, making it one in all Congo’s largest mines, in line with authorities information.
Gecamines, Mercuria and Trafigura declined to remark. CMOC confirmed that Gecamines has the suitable to market 20% of Tenke’s manufacturing underneath an settlement concluded final 12 months.
Gecamines can also be promoting its personal copper output, Bloomberg Information reported final month, when the agency was assessing bids for 90,000 tons of the steel mined at Tenke. Gecamines held a smaller profitable tender earlier this 12 months for copper manufacturing at one other three way partnership.
Congo extracts cobalt as a byproduct of copper mining, however costs of the battery steel have slumped by greater than two-thirds since early 2022 as rising output resulted in a glut. Gecamines has acquired many extra bids for Tenke’s copper than for its cobalt, one of many individuals mentioned.
Congo – which accounted for about three-quarters of worldwide cobalt manufacturing final 12 months – is evaluating measures to spice up the steel’s value, together with via potential export quotas, Bloomberg reported in April.
(By William Clowes)