{"id":31795,"date":"2026-04-14T10:02:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T08:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=31795"},"modified":"2026-04-14T10:02:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T08:02:10","slug":"drc-copper-cobalt-miners-cut-chemical-use-as-iran-war-disrupts-supplies","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/drc-copper-cobalt-miners-cut-chemical-use-as-iran-war-disrupts-supplies\/","title":{"rendered":"DRC copper, cobalt miners cut chemical use as Iran war disrupts supplies"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Democratic Republic of Congo\u2019s (DRC) leading copper and cobalt producers have had some \u200borders for key leaching chemicals cancelled or withdrawn by suppliers this month, forcing miners \u200cto cut usage and consider output reductions as Middle East-linked supply disruptions deepen, industry sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The DRC is the world\u2019s top cobalt producer and Africa\u2019s largest copper supplier, making it \u200ba key plank in global supply chains for electric vehicles and the clean-energy transition.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Copper \u200band cobalt mining in the country depend heavily on sulfuric acid and sulfur-based \u2060chemicals such as sodium metabisulfite (SMBS), supplies of which have been hit by shipping turmoil linked to the Iran war.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Some \u200bminers are already feeling the impact.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>A 2 000 metric ton SMBS order was cancelled outright, while another 1 800 ton shipment \u200bwas withdrawn earlier in April after contracts had been signed, a supply chain source said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the commercial sensitivity of contracts.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Miners are cutting chemical consumption to stretch available stocks and considering reducing cobalt \u200bproduction, the source and Mining Chemicals Supply Chain Consultant Isabel Ramirez said.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Producing off-spec cobalt is another \u200boption, though not ideal.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The sources declined to name the companies affected, but one referenced the three biggest operators \u200cin the \u2060DRC, China\u2019s CMOC, \u00a0Glencore and Eurasian Resources Group.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":28329,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[],"class_list":["post-31795","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"DRC's leading copper and cobalt producers","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/31795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/31795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31796,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/31795\/revisions\/31796"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=31795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}