DRC to lift cobalt export ban and launch quotas from October 2025

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is planning to replace its cobalt export ban with an annual quota system, effective from 16 October 2025. The DRC’s mining regulator will permit miners to export up to 18,125 tonnes (t) of cobalt for the remainder of 2025, followed by annual quotas of 96,600t for both 2026 and 2027. The DRC, which accounted for around 70% of global cobalt production last year, imposed the export ban in February 2023 after cobalt prices fell to a nine-year low, reported Reuters. T ...