China remotely controls cobalt mines in Congo
Chinese mining companies remotely control day-to-day cobalt mining operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a new document drafted by employees of a major Chinese mining company reveals.
The document, quoted by the South China Morning Post, said that thanks to digital technology, engineers at North Mining Limited, or Norine, can control and monitor on-site cobalt mining operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with their phones or computers. laptops in Beijing.
The company, which is part of the Norinco conglomerate, is one of the largest investors in the DRC and is securing vital minerals for the electric vehicle industry, in which China is already a leader. However, the country seems to feel some insecurity regarding the supply of critical minerals and metals, including cobalt, perhaps because it lacks local reserves of this metal. For this the DRC is a key source of cobalt.
“If the foreign supply of upstream raw materials is disrupted, the benefits of mid- and downstream products will no longer exist,” a government-commissioned study revealed.
In a context of growing tensions between the great powers and the attempt by the West to "de-sinicize" the global industrial chain, this can severely limit the development of emerging strategic industries in our country", concludes the research.
Due to this concern and the recent policy changes by the DRC government involving increased taxes and new laws to regulate mining, real-time communication between the headquarters in China and mines in the DRC appears to have become crucial for the success of mining operations in the Central African country.
Indeed, recently, another Chinese mining company has clashed with the Congolese government in the form of state-owned miner Gecamines, which blocked the share of cobalt produced by CMOC Group in the Tenke Fungurume mine. The dispute is based on the government's accusations that the Chinese company undervalued the field's reserves to pay fewer royalties. This type of dispute with the political authorities can lead to the blocking of supplies…
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The article China remotely controls cobalt mines in Congo comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/la-cina-controlla-a-distanza-le-miniere-di-cobalto-in-congo/ on Thu, 08 Dec 2022 15:35:49 +0000.