The Arise firm made public, this Thursday, September 21, 2023, in New York in the United States, the results of the pre-feasibility study on the development of the electric battery industry in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
According to this report, the investment cost to develop this vast project amounts to more or less 30 billion US dollars.
Although provisional, the results of this study confirm the feasibility of this project to manufacture precursors for electric batteries on Congolese soil.
“This is a great day for the Democratic Republic of Congo,” declared the Congolese Minister of Industry, Julien Paluku Kahongya.
“This study which was presented here in New York in front of all the captains of American and other industries has the advantage of mobilizing all the partners who are interested in the question of now coming to Africa, to the DRC so that together we let us develop this ecosystem; since it is not only a question of developing the battery industry but alongside there are partners who will invest in energy, road, rail or airport infrastructure.
And therefore, it is a vast market which requires the mobilization of significant resources. “, he explained.
According to the study’s projections, this gigantic project could generate nearly 7,000 billion US dollars by 2040.
While African economies only capture 3% of the market value of raw materials, the study shows that it is possible to raise the level to between 30 and 40% thanks to local processing.
The Arise firm also indicated that this project to install a factory to manufacture precursors for electric batteries in the DRC would create around 40,000 direct jobs and more than 160,000 indirect jobs.
Furthermore, according to the same report, there is a need to have more than 380 mines to meet the need for this vast mining project.
Initiated two years ago by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), since then joined by Zambia, the electric battery precursor factory project should enable Africa to become the driving force in the fight against climate change, of emergence and shared prosperity with other continents.
