Devils Below

Devils Below pinned a photo

🇨🇩 Cobalt Without Borders (Though With Quotas) 🌏 The DRC nevertheless lifts the ban on cobalt exports. Instead, from October 16, quotas will come into force. ❓ If you want to better understand the importance of this decision, please refer to our article on cobalt in the DRC. 📈The ban on cobalt exports was imposed in the DRC last February. The government thus hoped to increase world prices and encourage miners to invest in the internal processing of raw materials (only intermediate products, not pure cobalt, were banned for export). — For several months, the world's cobalt stocks were sufficient to cover the absent DRC, though their exhaustion was expected at the end of September. Now, even with the lifted restrictions could there still can emerge shortages since the first batch of cobalt will arrive again at the factories in China no earlier than 3 months after shipment - that is, in January 2026. Devils Below

🤩 Erase the Blood from a Diamond? [2/3] Let's continue the series of articles on the Kimberley Process. In today's focus are its problems and breaches. 👉 The main problem is the states. They verify the origin of the diamonds and issue certificates. So, if there is a "blood diamond" in your hands, just find in your country (or in a neighboring country) a corrupt official who will give the necessary certificate and the diamond will magically become "ethically clean". 👉 In addition, only rough diamonds are checked. Polishing or cutting a diamond will be enough for the Kimberley not to apply, and the trade in brilliants is, in its turn, almost not controlled. 👉 Finally, the Kimberley only fights against the financing of rebel groups, but not against dangerous working conditions or violations of human rights. — These issues are well known and the global community has been trying for a long time to fix the system. We'll talk about it next time. Devils Below

🇨🇩 Brawl For Batteries In the coming days, the government of the DRC will decide the fate of the cobalt exports ban, in force since last February. To better see the context, here are the most important facts about cobalt: ⚙ The main way of using cobalt is the manufacture of accumulators for electronics (76%); ⚙ In 2024, the DRC occupied 76% of the world's cobalt extraction; ⚙ More than 50% of the cobalt in the DRC is extracted by the Chinese company CMOC Group; ⚙ The processing of raw materials and the production of pure cobalt are also concentrated in China - in 2024, the Chinese produced 79% of refined cobalt; ⚙The US and China are fighting for access to the DRC's resources - including cobalt - by promoting competing logistics projects: the Lobito corridor (from Angola to the south of the DRC) and the Tazara Railway (Chinese project, on the pic). While we all wait for the decision, subscribe to us. Devils Below

❤️No Investments, Exports In Place In addition to our previous article on gold mining in Ghana. 🌏 Ghana has tightened the visa regime for the Chinese due to illegal gold mining. The new rules for obtaining visas require a mandatory personal interview and prohibit group visa applications. ❓According a research, between 2019 and 2023, $11.4 billion of gold and gold-bearing raw materials were extracted and exported illegally to Ghana. It is assumed that most of the illegal exports are carried out by small companies comprised of Chinese citizens. As part of the same efforts, the Ghanaian government recently created the state Gold Board, which gained the exclusive rights to buy and export artisanal gold. Devils Below

🤩What is the Kimberley Process? [1/3] Between the news, we decided to talk about the regulation of the markets for mineral resources - diamonds. ❓ The diamond market is regulated by the Kimberley Process, a program launched in 2003 in (surprise!) Kimberley with the support of the UN. It aims to solve the problem of "blood diamonds" produced and sold by armed groups. The core is the certification of rough diamond exports: in the ideal world the states control the supply and issue certificates for each shipment. 👁 Today, 80+ countries are participating in the process. If a state fucks up cannot guarantee that the exported diamonds are not used to finance armed groups, it may be suspended. At this stage, the reader may have a lot of questions about the reliability of this mechanism, perhaps even has some ideas on how to bypass it. 🤔 We'll talk about it next time. Devils Below

❤️ Sovereignty Of Gold 🌏 The head of the Gold Board of Ghana announced the launch of local gold refining in October. The measure seeks to increase the country's weight in supply chains by encouraging the internal production of pure gold. Ghana is the leader in African gold mining, but all its product is refined abroad. The problem is that the same has already been declared in 2013, 2015, 2016, 2022 and 2024 - but local refining still does not exist. Pure gold requires strict certification from foreign partners. There are <100 certified refining plants around the world (only 1 in the whole Africa), and miners would always prefer them to a new local refining. The solution is to build at least 1 plant that meets all the requirements. Then -- force the miners to sell it a part of their production there instead of exporting. Dirty, but that's how the countries that already have their own refining powers act - Russia, for example. Devils Below

Last Sunday, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda came to an agreement on a draft mining cooperation framework. The signing is expected to happen in October. With all the recent conflict in the DRC between 2022 and 2025 involving Rwanda, the M23 group and their allies took over mineral deposits in the eastern DRC. Then, in June, the countries signed a peace deal, and in August, some of those groups were put under international sanctions. This project focuses on foreign partners, as both countries will work with the US to reform the mining sector and apply OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) standards. In any case, any efforts to reduce tension will still be worth it. It will bring back investment, taxes, and jobs. It will also mean the end of using primitive technologies and heavy manual labor by locals. Devils Below

👑 The Return of Mansa Moussa? On September 10, Hilaire Diarra, an executive at the Barrick mining company, was appointed special adviser to the President of Mali. For those to whom these words mean nothing, Barrick is the company with which Bamako has been challenging the major Loulo-Gounkoto gold deposit in the west of Mali for 3 years. In 2024, it delivered 578k ounces of gold, or 1/10 of Barrick's production and 1/3 of Malian gold production. The confrontation concerns a surcharge of about 300 billion CFA francs (≈ $ 512 million) given the record gold prices — since 2019, they have increased by an incredible 277% (according to LBMA). It allows mining companies to earn excessive profits. Mali and other gold exporting countries have in turn begun to revise the taxation of gold in times of sharp price increases. The recent development is clear: Bamako is looking to attract former company managers to feel confident if Barrick leaves the country. Devils Below

💎Welcome to Démons du Sous-Sol Here we observe the reality of the exploitation of West and Central Africa's resources - who finances, who regulates, who drills and sells. Half a century ago, Africa gained its independence, but economic liberation has not entirely come until now. I'm writing not for business pundits, but for those folks who want to understand what's happening in their country and nearby. Subscribe if you really want to know who pumps out your oil and digs your gold while you're going to office. Devils Below

Channel photo updated