Lubumbashi

Lubumbashi is the capital of Haut-Katanga province and headquarters of the Copperbelt—a 70km × 250km mineral belt between Lubumbashi and Kolwezi containing at least 72 economic copper-cobalt deposits. The DRC produces 63% of global cobalt (essential for EV batteries), with Lubumbashi as the administrative and logistics hub. CMOC's TFM and KFM mines produced 650,200 tonnes of copper and 114,200 tonnes of cobalt in 2024, generating RMB 50.6 billion revenue (up 80.71% year-over-year). Ivanhoe's Kamoa-Kakula reported $973 million Q1 2025 revenue, up 57%. Yet exploitation comes with costs: in November 2025, Congo Dongfang International Mining's containment dam collapsed, spilling 'several million cubic meters of electrolytes' into Lubumbashi and flooding hundreds of homes. CDM generated $1.1 billion in 2024 (down from $1.52 billion in 2023). Research indicates the monthly living wage for miners should be $501, but workers remain 'trapped in an exploitative low wage system.' The 2025 DRC Mining Week in Lubumbashi (June 11-13) drew 1,300 delegates from 57 countries—discussing the Mining Roadmap 2025-2030 while researchers urged commitment to living wages. Lubumbashi sits at the crossroads of global decarbonization and neocolonialism: essential for the energy transition, contested by competing powers, and home to workers who rarely share in the wealth extracted.