Africa
Democratic Republic of the Congo
What comes out of the ground here, what is still in it, and who operates the assets.
7 materials produced
4 mines in the atlas
0 plants in the atlas
Export controls in force.
Export quota: Cobalt (2025).
(USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026, table 4 — as of January 2026)
What it produces
Maps →USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 · 2025 (estimated) · each row keeps the unit the source uses for that commodity · source ↗
Scroll the table sideways for the remaining columns.
| Material | Series | Production | Unit | Share of world |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cobalt | Mine production | 230,000 | metric tons | 74.2% |
| Tin | Mine production | 27,000 | metric tons | 9.3% |
| Copper | Mine production | 3,200 | thousand metric tons | 13.9% |
| Gemstones | Mine production | 2,000 | thousands of carats | 2.9% |
| Tantalum | Mine production | 1,300 | metric tons | 52.0% |
| Niobium | Mine production | 970.0 | metric tons | 0.9% |
| Diamond (Industrial) | Mine production | 7.00 | million carats | 18.4% |
What it holds in reserve
USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 · reserves as most recently published
| Material | Series | Reserves | Unit | Share of world |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cobalt | Reserves | 6,000,000 | metric tons | 50.0% |
| Gemstones | Reserves | 150,000 | thousands of carats | 7.5% |
| Tin | Reserves | 91,000 | metric tons | 1.5% |
| Copper | Reserves | 80,000 | thousand metric tons | 8.2% |
| Diamond (Industrial) | Reserves | 150.0 | million carats | 8.8% |
| Niobium | Reserves | Not applicable | metric tons | — |
| Tantalum | Reserves | Not applicable | metric tons | — |
Mines in the atlas
All →
Kamoa-Kakula
One of the highest-grade large copper deposits discovered in decades.
Kamoto (KCC)
Among the world's largest cobalt producers.
Mutanda
At times the single largest cobalt mine in the world.
Tenke Fungurume
One of the largest cobalt sources on Earth.
Journeys that pass through Democratic Republic of the Congo
All journeys →Material that is dug up here, refined here, or simply crosses the border on its way somewhere else.
Congolese cobalt to a battery cathode starts here A metal almost nobody mines on purpose, carried out of a landlocked country by truck. Congolese oxide ore to finished cathode, without a smelter starts here When the ore is oxide, acid will do what a smelter would otherwise have to.