JOHANNESBURG--Congo's government Wednesday said it will ban
exports of copper and cobalt concentrate to spur more local
processing of the minerals.
A government order from the ministry of mines said mining
companies in the country have 90 days to export the material before
the ban kicks in. The purpose of the ban is to encourage mining
companies to produce "value-added products" like finished copper in
the country before exporting.
This isn't the first time the government has imposed a ban on
exports. It has done so previously for mineral exports from the
Kivu region where tin is produced and in 2008 it said it would stop
copper concentrate exports so companies would have to process the
material in the country. It since reversed those bans.
Glencore International PLC (0805.HK, GLEN.LN, GLNCY), U.S. miner
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (FCX) and Lundin Mining
Corp. (LUNMF, LUN.T) mine for copper in the Congo. Congo is
Africa's second-largest copper producer, after Zambia. Glencore
declined to comment and Freeport and Lundin didn't respond to
requests. Shares of all three companies traded lower Wednesday.
Congo isn't the only country pushing changes to spur more local
processing, in the hopes it creates jobs and other industries.
South Africa is trying to find a way to get more companies to
process the gold and platinum they mine at home and is discussing
imposing export limits for some minerals. Botswana successfully
convinced diamond producer De Beers last year to move its
diamond-sorting business to the country's capital of Gaborone.
The news of Congo's impending export ban comes as the country is
reviewing its mining code. The state could decide to increase its
stake in mining projects. Congo's state-owned copper company said
in February it expects the country's copper industry as a whole to
produce 1.5 million tons of copper in 2015, up from about 600,000
tons at the moment.
--Alex MacDonald in London contributed to this article.
Write to Devon Maylie at devon.maylie@dowjones.com
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