The DRC government has awarded Buenassa US$3.5M to develop a new hydrometallurgical plant in the province of Lualaba.

In September 2023, Bloomberg reported that the DRC government was backing a new domestically owned copper-cobalt plant to help formalise artisanal mining in the country. The US$350M plant is be developed by privately held Congolese firm Buenassa, which focuses on trading domestically beneficiated minerals processed from ASM feedstock.  According to Bloomberg reports, Buenassa will collaborate with Washington-based financial consulting firm Delphos International to secure additional funding.

The latest news suggests Buenassa has been awarded US$3.5M as an initial tranche of funding through the DRC government’s Fonds de Promotion de l’Industrie (FPI). The first tranche is specifically earmarked to bolster the crucial first phase of the refinery complex’s development. The refinery is planned to initially produce 30ktpy copper cathodes and 5ktpy cobalt sulphate, with commercial production set to begin in 2027. Buenassa is in discussions with Entreprise Générale du Cobalt (EGC) for the supply of ASM material and a USA trading company to handle the marketing of its product in the USA. 

The funding moves a project with potential to impact cobalt market dynamics a step closer to production. Potential implications of this project’s development include increased production from ASM mining and the introduction of more EGC-governed material entering the cobalt supply chain.

The notion of a US-backed and vertically integrated operation in the DRC promotes considerations of whether there could be more US-DRC cooperation in the future. In January 2023, the USA, DRC, and Zambia signed an MOU with intentions to facilitate the development of an integrated value chain for the production of EV batteries in Central Africa. In February 2023, Deputy CEO of the USA International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), Nisha Biswal, told Reuters, that the DFC plans to increase its investment in the mining and infrastructure sectors of African countries, including the DRC, from US$750M invested in 2023 to US$1.4Bn.