{"id":1173229,"date":"2020-03-23T11:58:14","date_gmt":"2020-03-23T17:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1017880"},"modified":"2020-03-23T11:58:14","modified_gmt":"2020-03-23T17:58:14","slug":"congos-key-copper-cobalt-provinces-in-two-day-lockdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1173229","title":{"rendered":"Congo\u2019s key copper, cobalt provinces in two-day lockdown"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Democratic Republic of Congo<br \/>\nhas imposed a 48-hour&nbsp;lockdown in Haut-Katanga, a key copper-cobalt-producing<br \/>\nprovince, after two people tested positive for the coronavirus on a flight from<br \/>\nthe national capital Kinshasa to Lubumbashi, the provincial capital.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class='d-flex justify-content-center d-xs-block d-sm-block d-md-none'>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');});<\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The measure, effective Sunday, is<br \/>\nexpected weigh heavily on copper output, said Indigo Ellis, head of Africa<br \/>\nResearch at global risk consultancy Verisk&nbsp;Maplecroft.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe greatest risk to copper output from DR Congo is the potential for smelter or logistics-related bottlenecks, preventing mines from shipping concentrates,\u201d Ellis said.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote alignright\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>Congo is Africa\u2019s main copper producer and the world\u2019s No. 1 miner of cobalt, a key component in electric car batteries.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Ivanhoe Mines and MMG Ltd are among<br \/>\nthe mining companies with concessions in Haut-Katanga.<\/p>\n<p>Neighbouring Lualaba province, home<br \/>\nto mines owned by Glencore and China Molybdenum, ordered all public markets to<br \/>\nclose on Monday except those selling food and medicine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs the world economy grapples with<br \/>\nthe impacts of COVID-19, it is becoming increasingly unlikely that DRC will<br \/>\nmanage to qualify for the International Monetary Fund&nbsp;(IMF) programme in<br \/>\nApril 2020, particularly in the face of falling copper demand,\u201d Ellis noted.<\/p>\n<p>She\u2019s referring to a financial<br \/>\nassistance package agreed on last year, which would allow the IMF to resume<br \/>\nlending to Congo for the first time since 2012.<\/p>\n<p>The loan scheme is however expected<br \/>\nto be a boon for mining, Ellis said, as it will improve transparency and<br \/>\naccountability, dictating that all licences must be published online. <\/p>\n<p>Congo is Africa\u2019s main copper<br \/>\nproducer and the world\u2019s No. 1 miner of cobalt, a key component in electric car<br \/>\nbatteries. But it is one of the world\u2019s least developed countries, due largely<br \/>\nto corruption and poor governance.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Shortage<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The news come as copper&nbsp;concentrate<br \/>\ntreatment charges (TCs) continue to decline as a result of supply disruptions<br \/>\nat key copper producers, such as Chile, Peru and now the DRC.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/news.metal.com\/newscontent\/101047214\/copper-concentrate-tcs-dropped-on-supply-concerns\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">SMM Metal Price\u2019s estimates<\/a>, TCs for imported copper concentrate spot trade in China came in at $68.35 per tonne last Friday, down $3.12\/tonne from a one-year peak of $71.47\/tonne the prior week. <\/p>\n<p>Fears of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/chart-40-year-cost-curve-shows-copper-price-route-likely-over\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">supply shortages<\/a> have stemmed from announcements last week by a several Chilean and Peruvian copper producers that they will reduce or suspend operations as their respective governments declare a state of emergency aimed at containing the spread of COVID-19. <\/p>\n<p>Projects impacted include Anglo<br \/>\nAmerican\u2019s Los Bronces and Quellaveco as well as MMG\u2019s Las Bambas and<br \/>\nFreeport-McMoRan\u2019s Cerro Verde.<\/p>\n<p>Chile\u2019s state miner Codelco, the world\u2019s No.1 copper producer, has also scaled down operations. On Monday, the company <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/web\/codelco-says-copper-price-fall-puts-projects-at-risk\/\" >sent a letter to all its staff<\/a> noting that the drop in copper prices has put some of its projects &#8220;at risk.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em>With files from Reuters.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Measure is expected weigh heavily on copper output.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[369,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1173229"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1173229"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1173229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1173312,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1173229\/revisions\/1173312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1173229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1173229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1173229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}