[SMM Analysis] DRC’s First Official Lithium Export Ships from Manono via Tanzania

Manono Lithium’s first CEEC certified spodumene concentrate shipment departed Mutowa Port, near Kalemie, for Kigoma, Tanzania, on July 22, marking the Democratic Republic of Congo’s first official lithium export.

The multimodal route comprises road transport over approximately 440-500 km from Manono via Nyunzu to Mutowa, lake shipment aboard roughly 2,000-tonne vessels across Lake Tanganyika to Kigoma, and onward rail and/or road transport over approximately 1,250 km through Tanzania’s Central Corridor to Dar es Salaam. The cargo is expected to pass through the Malindi Terminal before ocean shipment to China. The new Tabora-Kigoma standard-gauge railway remains under construction.

The shipment’s volume, grade, value, buyer and final Chinese discharge port were not disclosed. Mutowa Port is still under construction, with initial annual capacity planned at 1 million tonnes and potential expansion to 1.8 million tonnes. Manono’s planned annual spodumene concentrate output is approximately 1 million tonnes.

SMM comments: The shipment confirms the technical feasibility of the Manono Mutowa Kigoma corridor but does not yet demonstrate stable, large scale export capacity. Future throughput and delivered cost competitiveness will depend on port completion, road conditions, lakevessel availability, Tanzanian inland transport capacity and coordination across multiple transshipment points.