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DRC’s 2026 EITI Validation scheduled to commence
EITI’s own Validation schedule and its call for views on stakeholder engagement confirm the DRC’s next assessment against the 2023 EITI Standard, under EITI’s revised Validation model, is set to begin 1 October 2026, covering October 2022 to October 2026. The 85.5 score from October 2022 remains current until it concludes.
EITI (Validation schedule; DRC 2026 Validation call for views on stakeholder engagement)
ARECOMS forfeiture order on unused first-half cobalt quotas becomes public
A notice seen by Reuters showed ARECOMS had decided on 29 June that any 2026 quota unshipped by 30 June would be forfeited and reassigned to its discretionary strategic reserve. Industry estimated the exposure at up to 20,000 tonnes, worth about USD 1.1bn at prevailing prices.
Reuters · Mining Weekly · SMM
Customs-platform outage leaves most cobalt exporters unable to meet ARECOMS’ quota deadline
A blockage on the customs declarations platform from 1 July, which the Chamber of Mines said stemmed from ARECOMS not authorising customs to keep processing quotas, meant an estimated 60-75% of producers, including CMOC, Glencore, ERG and Huayou, risked missing the 5 July cutoff for first-half allocations.
IMF Board completes third ECF and second RSF reviews, approves USD 348.5m
The Board concluded the 2026 Article IV consultation alongside the reviews, releasing USD 258.2m under the ECF and USD 90.3m under the RSF and taking total disbursements since January 2025 above USD 1.03bn. The Fund called programme implementation broadly satisfactory despite missed targets on security spending and exchange-rate policy.
IMF · Ecofin Agency · allAfrica
RAID and AFREWATCH publish scientific evidence of pollution at three major copper-cobalt mines
The report “A deadly chemical trail”, with Source International and University of Lubumbashi scientists, found airborne dust and elevated heavy metals and uranium in water around Tenke Fungurume (CMOC), Mutanda (Glencore) and COMMUS (Zijin). CMOC disputed the causation, Glencore acknowledged the findings, and Zijin did not respond substantively.
IMF reaches staff-level agreement on third ECF and second RSF reviews
The mission concluded the 2026 Article IV consultation and a staff-level agreement on the third ECF and second RSF reviews, reporting that 46% of identified 2022–25 Sicomines projects had been executed, up from under 10% at end-2024. Board approval and any disbursement were not yet confirmed.
Court of Auditors head announces prosecutions over undocumented public spending, mining funds among the cases
First president Jimmy Munganga Ngwaka told a Kinshasa briefing that public accountants across central government, provincial executives and state enterprises would face prosecution for expenditure without supporting documents, building on the Court’s earlier finding of a USD 16.8bn tax-versus-community-fund reporting gap in mining.
Radio Okapi · mediacongo.net · allAfrica
Gertler’s sanctioned royalty rights stall the USD 9bn Orion-Glencore consortium deal
Reporting traced the holdup in due diligence on Orion Critical Mineral Consortium’s proposed 40% stake in Mutanda and KCC to royalty streams OFAC-sanctioned Dan Gertler holds over both assets, with resolution said to require either a Gertler settlement, a specific OFAC licence, or a restructuring around his interests.
billionaires.africa · MINING.COM · citybiz
2026 cobalt quota shared out as early-year exports run below allocation
Under the 2026 cap, CMOC’s Tenke Fungurume and Kisanfu received about 31,920 tonnes and Glencore’s KCC and Mutanda about 22,800 tonnes, with EGC fourth at 5,640 tonnes. Only about 7,800 tonnes was cleared between December 2025 and February 2026, well below allocation, and ARECOMS extended quota validity into mid-2026.
Fastmarkets · Kitco · S&P Global
DRC creates a strategic reserve for cobalt, coltan and germanium under ARECOMS
The Council of Ministers adopted a decree authorising ARECOMS to acquire, hold, manage and market volumes of strategic minerals; the regulator’s head presented the scheme in Paris on 15 April 2026. For cobalt the reserve aligns with the 9,600-tonne strategic quota for 2026.
ITIE-RDC works to finalise a draft decree creating a beneficial-ownership register
With GIZ/LuCoFFI support, ITIE-RDC held a strategic workshop on the draft ministerial decree to operationalise a public beneficial-ownership register under EITI Requirement 2.5, building on a 2024 CENAREF preparatory step. As of mid-2026 no decree is signed and no public register exists.
ITIE-RDC · CENAREF
US sanctions the Rwanda Defence Force over Washington Accords violations
The US Treasury designated the Rwanda Defence Force and four senior officers, citing M23’s continued territorial gains in eastern DRC in breach of the December 2025 accords. M23’s control of the Rubaya coltan mine is the central minerals link.
Older context (the 2017 Carter Center “missing revenues” finding, the 2017–18 Gertler sanctions, the March 2024 Sicomines Amendment 5) is carried on the Debates page rather than repeated here, since the feed tracks new developments.