China Molybdenum Corporation’s Congo subsidiaries generated unprecedented revenues of $7.05 billion in 2024, underscoring China’s deepening control over critical minerals essential to the global energy transition.
The mining giant’s Tenke Fungurume Mining (TFM) and Kisanfu Mining (KFM) operations recorded an 80.71% revenue surge compared to 2023, according to corporate filings. These Congo-based assets now represent 77.5% of CMOC’s global production volume and feature the highest profitability across its worldwide operations, with a 47.1% gross margin despite rising operational costs.
Congo’s strategic importance to CMOC is difficult to overstate. The company’s Congo operations generated approximately 40% of the equivalent of Congo’s entire national budget for 2024, reflecting both the country’s mineral wealth and its heavy dependence on extractive industry revenues. 
CMOC commercialized 689,521 tons of copper worth $5.82 billion and 108,892 tons of cobalt valued at $1.22 billion from its Congo properties. Production increases came through the activation of three new mixed ore processing lines at TFM, bringing the site’s total to five lines with annual capacity of 450,000 tons of copper. Combined with KFM’s 150,000-ton capacity, CMOC now operates six processing lines in Congo with total production capacity exceeding 600,000 tons annually.
These impressive figures come against a complex market backdrop. While copper prices remained relatively stable, cobalt prices fell 26.57%, dropping from over $28,000 to approximately $24,000 per ton between January and December 2024. In response to this price collapse and concerns about market oversupply, Congolese authorities suspended cobalt exports in February 2025 for an initial four-month period to stabilize prices.
Despite the export moratorium, CMOC has maintained aggressive production levels. The company produced 30,414 tons of cobalt in the first quarter of 2025—a 20.7% increase over the same period last year—and maintains its annual forecast of 100,000 to 120,000 tons. This strategy appears vindicated by cobalt’s 57% price recovery since the government announcement.
The Chinese mining behemoth now controls more than 70% of global cobalt production through its Congo subsidiaries. In 2024, TFM and KFM exports represented approximately 60% of Congo’s cobalt shipments and 45% of its copper exports, generating substantial government revenue through royalties and mining taxes.
While CMOC’s outlook remains robust, industry analysts note several challenges ahead, including navigating Congo’s evolving regulatory environment, meeting intensifying sustainability expectations, and managing geopolitical tensions surrounding strategic resource extraction in Central Africa. The company’s vertical integration strategy and investments in sustainable infrastructure will prove crucial to maintaining its dominant position while addressing environmental and social demands.
