Bryan Bille

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is the world’s leading supplier of mined cobalt, supplying three quarters of 2025 cobalt, and is the second largest supplier of mined copper, supplying 15% in 2025. Its transformation into a major supplier of both minerals follows significant investment from China over the last 15 years. The DRC is also home to one of the world’s largest hard rock lithium deposits, the Manono site in the country’s Tanganyika Province. It recently started operating. Manono North, owned by Zijin, is currently operating and has an eventual planned capacity of 120ktpa. A separate, AVZ-owned and CATL-backed Manono project is due to come online in 2032, with a planned capacity of 90ktpa.

The US has taken a different course to many other major economies on the energy transition in general, and electric vehicles (EVs) in particular, since the return of Donald Trump as president in January 2025. In April 2026, EV sales were down 33% year-to-date year-on-year – a mirror image of another major Western economy, Germany, which was up 33% over the same period. What is different about the US?

The European Union still requires significant investment in critical mineral projects if it is to meet the non-binding targets set out in its Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) which came into force in May 2024. The Act set targets for 10% of the bloc’s critical mineral demand to be met by domestic mining, 40% by domestic processing, and 25% by recycling. Further, no more than 65% of demand for one critical mineral should be met by a single country. Benchmark analysis shows that with the exception of lithium and nickel extraction, the bloc is forecast to miss the targets for battery metals across mining, processing and recycling.

The EU Commission's proposed Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA) introduces new “Made in EU” stipulations for electric vehicles as part of a range of measures aimed at increasing the manufacturing sector’s share of the bloc’s GDP to 20% by 2035, up from 14.3% in 2024. The act was proposed on Wednesday 4 March after delays and renegotiations pushed its publication to the wire. Further negotiations between the Council and the European Parliament are required before the IAA can be adopted and enter into force. The “Made in EU” rules add tough requirements for automakers looking to benefit from incentive schemes, financial support for corporate vehicles, or public procurement, though there are exceptions for the “small cars” segment.

The Trump Administration’s Project Vault aims to create a strategic reserve of critical minerals, funded by $1.67bn in private capital and a $10bn loan from the US Export-Import Bank. Full details of the reserve have yet to be announced, though the aim is reportedly to build up strategic stocks equivalent to 60 days of demand of selected minerals to protect industries such as automotive and renewable energy against future critical mineral supply shocks and price swings. At today’s prices and based on 2026 demand, this would cost $991 million for key battery minerals (lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, graphite and coke), with lithium being the largest contributor.

Estonian startup UP Catalyst is turning CO₂ emissions into battery-grade graphite. As one of the 47 strategic projects selected under the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) and with funding from the European Investment Bank (EIB), UP Catalyst’s twin mission is to help Europe reduce its dependence on Chinese graphite and address decarbonisation. Following a...