Mining investment into the Democratic Republic of Congo is growing, SRK partners told Mining Journal, despite the instability in the northeast of the country, with Chinese companies growing more interested in extracting lithium.
Chinese mining companies now constitute over 60% of mining operations in the DRC.
SRK Africa and SRK China are collaborating to assist these clients with technical, regulatory, and sustainability solutions to adapt to the local environment. "What we've seen over the last couple of years is that there're a lot of Chinese mining companies looking at lithium", Wouter Jordaan, Partner & Principal Environmental Scientist at SRK Consulting South Africa and Director at SRK Consulting DRC, said.
"Because lithium prices took a bit of a dive, a lot of those posts were put on hold, but we are seeing some movement again", he added.
"But also, what we are now seeing is, during the course of last year, the DRC Government made it very clear that they would like to diversify investments from others as well. And while we certainly still see a lot of Chinese companies that have got an appetite for the DRC, we are also seeing a lot of Saudi involvement now".
As expected, the recently initiated Consolidated Mining Standard Initiative (CMSI) has led to more conversations between with SRK Consulting's professional teams from Africa and China as miners navigate the new landscape.
"Having moved quite quickly from a state-controlled mining industry to one that encouraged private investment, the DRC has been developing its local legislation", said Dominique Sambwa, Chairman of SRK Congo. "At the same time, larger global companies operating in the DRC have been driving global standards – and the prospect of a consolidated mining standard in the future is raising considerable interest”.
Frank Li, Principal Geologist in SRK's Beijing practice, travels extensively to the DRC as part of a collaboration between SRK and its Chinese clients.
“I travel a lot to DRC, and I have the full support from every colleague in each office, whether it is SRK Global, South Africa, or in the DRC, everyone fully supports the initiative between China and the DRC”, he said.
“There are a lot of Chinese mining companies in the DRC, and they are in various stages of developing and bringing projects to international standards”, he added.
“In terms of existing Chinese clients in the DRC, they are all looking at ESG because there is the understanding that the market is going to compete and responsible mining standards are going to play a much bigger role”, Jordaan said.
