Sounds like CMOC are still banned from exporting cobalt out of...

Sounds like CMOC are still banned from exporting cobalt out of Tenke Fungurume. The latest I had heard was the export ban was revoked but apparently only for copper so far. President Felix Tshisekedi is visiting China this week and it will be interesting to see what news comes out of this.

Article from May 19, 2023
https://www.mining.com/web/congo-president-heads-to-china-amid-mining-contract-negotiations/

"Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi will visit China next week as the two nations look to conclude the re-negotiation of a $6.2 billion mineral-for-infrastructure deal, people with direct knowledge of the trip said."

"In January, Tshisekedi told Bloomberg the contract was “badly drawn up” and that Congo had “derived no benefit from it.” The president said the deal needed to be “rebalanced.”While the mine is pumping out metal, the Chinese partners have only disbursed about $822 million of infrastructure funding over 14 years, the country’s inspector general said in a report in February."

"While CMOC and Gecamines have agreed on the outlines of a resolution, they’ve yet to sign a final agreement, Gecamines Chairman Guy-Robert Lukama told Bloomberg Thursday in an interview in Kinshasa, Congo’s capital. In the interim, the joint venture has re-started exports of copper mined in 2022, but is still blocked by the finance ministry from exporting cobalt, he said.CMOC didn’t respond to emailed questions on Friday. Officials from Gecamines, which is also a partner in the minerals-for-infrastructure contract, are also traveling to China."