RE:RE:RE:The Congo is in big trouble. Totally agree, DRC is riddled with civil war potential. The only country that will be able to operate with confidence within a situation there will be China who is heavily invested in mining and infrastructure. No local insurgency or government forces will tamper with the Chinese who if not already will have boots on the ground there in a heartbeat to protect their intrests. The place is strife with corruption and is near lawless and is an environment that China can operate in.
The DRC is "owned" by China, the glencores of the world will be able to operate there as long as they have supply agreements with China ....anyone else is at risk .....and the risk is very high.
the last thing China wants is increased cost to produce everything and anything they take out of DRC, all these agreements ( many western countries and manufactuers have plans for ) to improve mining conditions will come with a price tag and drive up the cost. The Chinese could care less about child labour and mine colapses, environment and socio issues, just look at thier own home grown mining ( the ones that are nowhere near thier big cities) such as rare earths where thousands and thousands of acres of land and waterways are completely void of life from mining operations not to mention sick and dying populations....they don't give two S---S at home and much less in the DRC.
Any end user of products from the DRC will be at risk. The more this is in the news the more that end users will be pressured to think alternates sources which in part is the catalyst of the CM agreements of both Canada and the USA along with the EU and is also where we and several others in NA come into play. The writing is on the wall, who is going to make a move?