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Congo-Kinshasa: Investigation Raises Alarm Over Uranium in DR Congo Cobalt Shipments to China
RFI, 9 August 2026
An investigation by Lighthouse Reports, The Financial Times and Le Monde traces the possible export of uranium from the Democratic Republic of Congo back to a confidential… Read more »
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Africa: Critical Minerals - the Hidden Resources Powering the Clean Energy Future
UN News, 21 July 2026
Why are critical minerals suddenly at the centre of global politics? Read more »
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Central Africa: The Alliance Driving Instability in the Great Lakes Region
New Times, 3 June 2026
The Great Lakes Region of Africa remains a central arena for Western power competition, driven by its abundant critical minerals, which are foundational to global digital… Read more »
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Congo-Kinshasa: DRC President Felix Tshisekedi Signals Strategic Shift Toward the United States
FICE, 10 May 2026
During a high-profile press conference held yesterday in Kinshasa, President Felix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo delivered a clear public declaration that the Democratic Republic of… Read more »
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Africa: Clean Energy, Digital Technologies Are Coming At a Human Cost, UN Report Warns
IPS, 30 April 2026
A newly released United Nations report has raised urgent concerns that the world's push toward clean energy and digital technologies is driving a hidden crisis in some of the… Read more »
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Congo-Kinshasa: Mining DR Congo's Cobalt - False Solution to Climate Transition?
allAfrica, 4 September 2025
Cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), essential for global clean energy technologies, presents a paradox for the global energy transition. While the country… Read more »
Uranium Detected in DR Congo Cobalt Shipments to China - Report
Significant quantities of uranium were reportedly present in cobalt ores exported from mines in southeastern Katanga, according to a joint investigation by Lighthouse Reports, The Financial Times, and Le Monde. The mine, operated by a Chinese firm, sits within Central Africa's Copperbelt and has increasingly shifted toward cobalt extraction to meet rising demand for its use in lithium-ion batteries and aerospace alloys.
The report cites "credible information" from a previously undisclosed internal memo by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) - a claim the Chinese operator denies. Industry experts say uranium, copper, and cobalt frequently occur together throughout the Congolese and Zambian Copperbelt.
InFocus
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The new scramble for Africa is not marked by warships or colonial flags, but by battery supply chains, green transition targets, and high-level trade delegations. The race is for lithium, cobalt, graphite, manganese, platinum group metals, and rare earth elements -- the minerals powering electric vehicles, renewable energy systems, and digital infrastructure, writes Daniel T. Makokera for allAfrica.com.
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Congolese lawyers and human rights defenders are challenging a "minerals-for-security" deal signed between the government of President Félix Tshisekedi and the United States in December. Critics argue the agreement bypassed necessary parliamentary approval and may even require a national referendum under the Congolese constitution.
The deal grants the U.S. preferential access to critical minerals,
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The DR Congo accounts for about two-thirds of the world's cobalt, a key component of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that power electronic devices and electric vehicles, dwarfing the output of its closest competitors. But reports of dangerous working conditions and child labor in the country's informal mines have sparked an outcry over what is being referred to as "blood cobalt". This is forcing manufacturers who market themselves as sustainable to look for ways to source
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Processed cobalt oxide ready for export from a mine in Katanga, Democratic Republic of Congo (file photo).
