The Democratic Republic of the Congo, a country of roughly 100+ million people in central Africa, produces approximately 70% of the world's mined cobalt — the metallic element used in lithium-ion battery cathodes, with growing applications in EV batteries, consumer electronics, and grid storage. The exact share varies year to year (USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries reports DRC at approximately 70-72% of mined cobalt production in recent years), and processing of mined ore into battery-grade compounds is concentrated in China (which performs approximately 70%+ of global cobalt refining per industry data). The cumulative pattern is one of the most extreme single-country-plus-single-processor concentrations in any modern critical-mineral supply chain.

The DRC has substantial state-capacity constraints, recurring conflict in its eastern provinces, complex relationships with international mining firms (Glencore being one of the largest operators alongside Chinese firms including CMOC Group, the operational name of China Molybdenum after a series of acquisitions including the Tenke Fungurume copper-cobalt asset), and a long history of contested mineral wealth that has shaped the country's economic and political trajectory across decades.