In November 2019, the Democratic Republic of Congo announced plans for a new state-owned mining company meant to bring artisanal cobalt mining into the formal sector. But institutional hurdles and operational setbacks have prevented the company from establishing the monopoly it was expected to hold.

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s state-owned miner, Entreprise Générale du Cobalt (EGC), announced this week that it has produced its first 1,000 tons of fully traceable cobalt sourced from artisanal mining sites. The production marks a significant step for the company, which was set up in November 2019 to hold the state-granted monopoly on buying and exporting all cobalt produced by artisanal miners in the country.

This first batch comes after nearly six years of delays, institutional deadlock, and operational hurdles that had prevented EGC from becoming operational. The monopoly announced at its creation was caught in administrative disputes and could not be enforced because no dedicated artisanal mining sites had been assigned to the company. A key stumbling block was a conflict with Huayou Cobalt over the Kasulo mine. The lack of secure designated areas for cooperatives, EGC’s inability to purchase ore from miners, and the absence of enforceable responsible sourcing standards added to the difficulties.

EGC’s prospects shifted in 2024 when the state-owned mining group Gécamines assigned five new mining blocks to the company. Momentum increased in February 2025 after the government imposed a nationwide suspension on all artisanal cobalt exports. The ban was initially intended to reduce the global surplus and support weakened prices. It also gave EGC a decisive advantage by making it the only entity allowed to export cobalt sourced from artisanal production.

Artisanal cobalt production employs an estimated 1.5 to 2 million people in the country and has historically contributed between 15 and 30 percent of the DRC’s total cobalt output. That share fell sharply in recent months because of falling prices, reaching only 2 percent of national production last year, according to the Cobalt Institute. The impact of EGC’s expanding operations on overall sector output and on the working and living conditions of artisanal miners, many of whom struggle to earn a stable income from the activity, remains uncertain.

Emiliano Tossou