Revision Of Democratic Republic Of Congo's Mining Code Driven By Cobalt Price Rise

Recent developments in Tanzania and South Africa which have materially modified their mining legislations triggered negative reactions of the international mining companies. Perceived as the revival of the resource nationalism, this trend now includes the recent revision of its mining code by the Democratic Republic of Congo ("DRC") and the country's state-owned mining company Gécamines' willing to renegotiate existing mining agreements to cure their "imbalances".

Traditionally, the manifestation of resource nationalism follows the cycles of the commodity prices. The host states tend to strengthen the regulations when the prices are high to get a bigger share of the profits.

As the global boom for smart phones and electric cars results in an increased demand for batteries, the price of cobalt, which is the key ingredient, has almost quadrupled during the last two years. The DRC is by far the world's biggest cobalt producer where last year 67% of the global cobalt