DR Congo mines three-quarters of the world's cobalt
Cobalt mine production by country, thousand tonnes of contained cobalt, 2025 estimate vs 2024.
- 1. Indonesia now mines two-thirds of the world's nickel
- 2. Kazakhstan mines more uranium than Canada and Namibia combined
- 3. Argentina mined 60% more lithium in just one year
- 4. The price of lithium fell 86% in three years
- 5. Indonesia climbed from ninth to second among cobalt miners
- 6. DR Congo tripled its copper mining in ten years
- 7. DR Congo passed Chile in refined copper
- 8. Zimbabwe climbed to fourth among the world's lithium miners
- 9. DR Congo mines three-quarters of the world's cobalt
- 10. Guinea overtook Australia as the world's biggest bauxite miner
- 11. Brazil mines 93% of the world's niobium
DR Congo mined 230,000 of the world's 310,000 tonnes of cobalt in 2025.
DR Congo out-mined Indonesia, the runner-up, which climbed to 44,000 tonnes.
DR Congo's annual export quota for 2026–27 is under half of its 2025 mine output.
the numbers & method
| Mine output (kt) | 2024 (kt) | Share of world (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DR Congo | 230.0 | 226.0 | 74.2 |
| Indonesia | 44.0 | 35.0 | 14.2 |
| Russia | 7.7 | 8.0 | 2.5 |
| Madagascar | 3.9 | 3.1 | 1.3 |
| Australia | 3.7 | 4.8 | 1.2 |
| Philippines | 3.7 | 3.1 | 1.2 |
| Canada | 3.5 | 3.4 | 1.1 |
| Papua New Guinea | 2.8 | 2.6 | 0.9 |
| Cuba | 2.0 | 3.5 | 0.6 |
| China | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.6 |
| Turkey | 1.9 | 2.2 | 0.6 |
| United States | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
Claim types Fact · Estimate
2025 values are USGS estimates; 2024 values are reported. Shares are derived from USGS's rounded world total (310,000 t in 2025). 'Other countries' (9,100 t) not shown. DR Congo banned cobalt exports in Feb 2025, replacing the ban in Oct 2025 with quotas of up to 96,600 t a year for 2026 and 2027 (including 9,600 t for strategic reserves); the quota-to-output comparison (42%) is derived. Country values sum to 314.6 kt, above USGS's rounded 310 kt world total, so shares sum to ~101%.
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