Tuesday 28 July 2026. Copper 6.336 USD/lb, cobalt unchanged at 56,290 USD/t, Brent 83.86.
LUSAKA, A continental metals exchange enters a manifesto
Jito Kayumba, adviser to President Hakainde Hichilema on finance and investment, said Zambia intends to spearhead a pan-African minerals and metals exchange, and that work would begin immediately if the president wins next month's election, the plan having been written into his party's manifesto. It would sit on top of Zambia's existing metals-trading joint venture with Mercuria, and Congo, which has its own Mercuria arrangement and offtake from mines where the state holds minority stakes, has already been consulted, along with two countries Kayumba declined to name. The framing is value capture: Africa takes under 1% of global value from clean-energy technology manufacturing while supplying much of the raw input. It arrives in the same week Zambia is reported to be tightening restrictions on raw copper exports and pressing Chinese operators on local processing.
LUBUMBASHI, Kinshasa starts assigning cooperatives to artisanal zones
The DRC mines ministry launched on Monday the commission that will prepare the assignment of mining cooperatives to artisanal exploitation zones in Haut-Katanga and Lualaba, chaired at the ceremony by cabinet director Michel Kaswa Kayomo with SAEMAPE director general Jean-Paul Kapongo present. The legal frame is ministerial orders 00233 and 00235 of 3 April 2026, and the stated objectives are traceability of mineral substances, legal security for operators and the suppression of illicit marketing circuits. For anyone buying heterogenite through cooperative channels in Lualaba, the practical output is a list of who is allowed to dig where.
AT SEA, VLCCs take the long way to Egypt
Very large crude carriers are heading for Egypt to load Saudi barrels through a bypass line rather than transit the Red Sea, a detour around Africa adding 25 days each way. The freight cost of that routing is running against a collapsing flat price: Brent printed 83.86 on 28 July, down 16.7% from the prior print of 100.69, after the US-Iran pause took the war premium out of the barrel.
KATHU, Kumba's half-year
Africa's largest iron ore miner reported first-half profit down 41% on revenue 11% lower, and said it is targeting more sales outside China. Capesize demand is the transmission line here, and the Baltic Dry Index fell 32 points on Tuesday to 2,664, a 2.9% loss on the prior print.
NUTRIENTS, Urea keeps sliding, phosphate barely moves
Urea printed 430 USD/t on 28 July against 451 prior, a 4.7% drop, while DAP held almost still at 785 from 789. Russian suppliers are publicly courting Bangladesh with discounted urea, Mexico is talking up domestic production, and India has already legislated 10 million tonnes of new capacity. Palm oil eased 1.7% to 4,642 MYR/t as rival oils and crude weakened.
Also on the tape
- Codelco's chairman ruled out meeting this year's copper targets, with Chilean storm damage still being counted.
- The US strategic stockpile again delayed lithium carbonate bids.
- Evolution Mining agreed to buy copper-gold explorer Carnaby Resources for 149 million dollars.