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8 March 2018 By Clara Ferreira Marques Follow @ClaraMarquesRTR

The world’s top cobalt producer is right to update rules written after a ruinous war. But the dramatic shift to bring in more taxes also reneges on an earlier promised 10-year “stability clause”. Unpredictable swings damage an already battered image, and put investment at risk.

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Cobalt tax grab will send carmakers on a diversion

Context News

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s president, Joseph Kabila, will "soon" sign a new mining code into law, the government said on March 7. The announcement followed a nearly six-hour meeting with mining executives.

In a statement, the government said it would take industry concerns into consideration “after the promulgation of the new mining law”.

The law raises taxes, removes a stability clause in the current law which protects miners from changes to the fiscal and customs regime for 10 years, and introduces a windfall profits tax.

Congo is Africa’s largest copper producer and the world’s largest producer of cobalt. It also produces zinc, tin and gold.

Mining companies operating in Congo include Glencore, Randgold Resources, China Molybdenum and Ivanhoe Mines.

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