To ease the mining export congestion, a new road will be built along the Luben-Cassonne border

The demand for primary materials is growing worldwide due to the energy shift, but Katanga's mineral exports are unable to withstand the surge of export vehicles due to congested border roads.

To this end, sources told Reuters that a new road will be built from Lubumbashi to Kason Barresa to ease traffic.

At present, Kason Barresa is the gateway for exports from Katanga to Zambia, and there are long queues of vehicles carrying mineral exports.

Since 2019, the number of vehicles has tripled.

Building a second road can greatly reduce the traffic pressure and shorten the waiting time at the exit.

If confirmed, it would be an important step by the DRC government to increase the supply of strategic metals to the world, including lithium, cobalt and copper.

The metals are transported overland from the DRC to Zambia and then to international markets in Asia, Europe and North America.

In recent years, in the face of strong demand from the world market, a number of mining projects in the DRC have entered production. In 2021, Congo's gold and copper metal output exceeded 1.6 million tons, ten times that of more than a decade ago.

Excerpts from -- Congo Today