DRC export data for miners: copper, cobalt and gold explained

The DRC's mineral export data — who declares what, to which government body, and what official statistics capture — is essential context for any analyst building a data-driven view of the sector. This article explains the export flows for copper, cobalt, and gold: what products leave the country, how they are recorded, which government bodies receive the declarations, and where reliable data can be found.

How DRC mineral exports are recorded

Mineral exports in the DRC are subject to multiple declaration and recording steps. Operators declare production and sales to the Direction Générale des Impôts (DGI) for tax purposes and to the Banque Centrale du Congo (BCC) for balance-of-payments recording. Export declarations are made to the Direction Générale des Douanes et Accises (DGDA) at the point of exit.

DGRAD (Direction Générale des Recettes Administratives, Judiciaires, Domaniales et de Participation) collects royalties, surface rents, and certain fees related to mining, recording those receipts separately from DGDA customs data.

The EITI DRC reconciliation process compares company-declared payments across all these government bodies against the receiving government body's declared receipts. Discrepancies between company and government declarations are flagged in the published reconciliation reports.

Copper exports

DRC copper exports are predominantly copper cathode (Grade A, 99.99 percent purity) produced through SX-EW processing at mine sites. A smaller volume is exported as copper concentrate from flotation-based operations, primarily where SX-EW is not the processing method.

Copper cathode moves by road or rail to border crossings and onward to Dar es Salaam or Durban for ocean shipment. The primary buyer destination is China, which receives the majority of DRC copper cathode, with smaller volumes going to Asian and European consumers. BCC monthly statistics provide the official copper export volume by month. WITS (World Bank World Integrated Trade Solution) provides a secondary cross-check from trade partner import declarations.

Declared copper exports from the DRC in 2023 were approximately 2.0 million tonnes, consistent with production figures from major operators.

The agreement between production declarations and export declarations for copper is generally closer than for gold, where under-reporting is more prevalent.

Cobalt exports

Cobalt leaves the DRC overwhelmingly as cobalt hydroxide — a wet, granular intermediate product with approximately 30–40 percent cobalt content. It is trucked in sealed containers to Indian Ocean ports for ocean shipment to refineries, predominantly in China.

The small volumes that go to European refiners (Umicore in Belgium, Freeport Cobalt in Finland) are shipped through Durban or occasionally Dar es Salaam.

Cobalt export declarations are made by weight and by assessed cobalt content. The BCC's cobalt export statistics are in tonnes of cobalt equivalent, allowing comparison with operator production disclosures. EITI data provides company-level cobalt payment flows that enable cross-checks on declared export values.

Gold exports

Gold exports are more complex to track than copper or cobalt because of the dual nature of production — industrial (Kibali) and artisanal — and the routing of artisanal gold through neighbouring countries before formal export.

Kibali's gold is exported as doré by air to refineries in South Africa or Switzerland. This stream is declared through official channels and appears in BCC export statistics and EITI reconciliation data. The declared volume aligns with Barrick's production disclosures.

Artisanal gold is more difficult. An estimated significant fraction of eastern DRC artisanal gold exits through Rwanda, Uganda, or Burundi and appears in those countries' export statistics rather than the DRC's. Rwanda's gold exports have for years substantially exceeded Rwanda's domestic artisanal production capacity, a discrepancy documented repeatedly by the UN Group of Experts as evidence of undeclared DRC-origin gold in Rwandan export flows.

What DRC exports most from mining

By value, copper consistently accounts for the largest share of DRC mineral export earnings — approximately 60–70 percent of total mineral export value in recent years, reflecting copper's combination of large volume and high per-tonne price. Cobalt is second, representing approximately 15–25 percent depending on cobalt price levels. Gold (Kibali declared exports) contributes approximately 5–8 percent.

The 3T minerals contribute a small percentage of formal exports.

The relative contribution of copper and cobalt to total export value fluctuates with price. In years of elevated cobalt prices (2018, 2022), cobalt's share rises. In years of low cobalt prices (2019–2020, 2023), it declines sharply.

[Internal link: "sector overview" → Pillar: Mining in the DRC: the 2026 guide to minerals, laws and major projects]