The Canadian organization IMPACT, which focuses on improving the management of natural resources, has launched a project called “Mapping Costs” aimed at fighting against corruption in the artisanal cobalt sector in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The initiative, funded by the European Union, was launched on March 21 in the city of Kolwezi.
The project brings together various stakeholders, including local elected officials, artisanal miners, civil society actors, traders, and experts in mining and financial management.
It aims to hold a series of workshops to examine taxes and other charges currently in effect in order to promote transparency and fight against corruption.
The ultimate goal is to provide artisanal miners with technical sheets that can help them deter requests for illegal payments.
Joanne Lebert, Executive Director of IMPACT, explained that “by mapping mandatory formalities and fees through a multi-stakeholder consultative process, we hope to remove any ambiguity in taxation related to artisanal cobalt and provide artisanal miners and traders with a useful reference guide they can consult to ensure that they are not victims of extortion.”
According to an OECD report cited by IMPACT, artisanal miners are deprived of around 20% of the total value of the product extracted due to extortions and other bribes paid in particular to state officials.
To combat this, IMPACT has already carried out a similar project in relation to artisanal gold mining in Ituri province, where fees represented up to 12% of the value of the ore.
Since then, costs have fallen for miners, and the number of formalities to complete to export artisanal gold has fallen from 26 to 9.
Artisanal mining represents between 15 and 30% of cobalt production in the DRC, which provides 70% of the world’s supply and exported more than 115,000 tonnes of cobalt in 2022, according to statistics from the Ministry of Mines.
With the “Mapping Costs” project, IMPACT aims to promote transparency and accountability in the artisanal cobalt sector and contribute to the fight against corruption.
