Operations at a Zijin Mining Group Ltd. copper and cobalt mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been suspended due to worries about excessive radiation in its cobalt, according to people familiar with the matter…The La Compagnie Minière de Musonoie project, known as COMMUS, has been closed since earlier this week, the people said, asking not to be identified because they aren’t authorized to speak on the matter…Government officials present at COMMUS are overseeing the suspension of production and testing cobalt shipments that were blocked and returned after being exported, the people said. Congo has some deposits of uranium in its southeastern Katanga region and some contamination occurs occasionally…Cobalt is mined as a byproduct of copper production and the COMMUS mine produced 129,000 tons of copper last year, about 4.2% of total output in the world’s second largest source of the metal. It also produced 2,200 tons of cobalt last year.

Canada is on the verge of an agreement with Honda Motor Co. that would see the Japanese firm build electric vehicles and their components in the province of Ontario, according to people familiar with the matter…The deal, expected to be announced within a week, involves a multibillion-dollar commitment by Honda for new facilities to process cathode active materials, build batteries, and assemble battery-powered vehicles — making southern Ontario a key hub of company’s EV manufacturing plans in North America. The Canadian government would subsidize a portion of the capital cost…The Honda investment comes at an anxious moment for the auto sector, with consumer adoption of electric vehicles playing out slowly in some regions because of high prices and a shortage of charging stations….Still, manufacturers are making long-term bets. Last month, Honda and Nissan Motor Co. announced a plan to collaborate on technology for battery-based electric vehicles, including software, as they seek to keep up with Chinese rivals…In this case, the primary incentive, called the clean technology manufacturing ITC, provides a refundable tax credit for 30 per cent of equipment costs. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s budget last week also introduced a new tax credit that would apply to 10 per cent of the cost of buildings used for electric vehicle manufacturing — if a company has significant portions of its EV supply chain within Canada…Earlier this year, the Japanese news outlet Nikkei reported that Honda was considering a US$14 billion investment in Canada, but hadn’t made a decision yet. 

Tesla has cut prices in a number of its major markets, including China and Germany, following price cuts in the United States, as it grapples with falling sales and an intensifying price war for electric vehicles (EVs), especially against Chinese EVs…The price cuts come after Tesla, led by its billionaire CEO Elon Musk, reported this month that its global vehicle deliveries in the first quarter fell for the first time in nearly four years…Tesla cut the starting price of the revamped Model 3 in China by 14,000 yuan ($1,930) to 231,900 yuan ($32,000), its official website showed on Sunday…In Germany, the price of the Model 3 rear-wheel-drive was trimmed to 40,990 euros ($43,670.75) from 42,990 euros, where the price had been since February…Tesla has been slow to refresh its ageing models as high interest rates have sapped consumer appetite for big-ticket items, while rivals in China, the world's largest auto market, are rolling out cheaper models.

A soldier walks past the armored personnel carrier just as it sparks and smokes, sending a surface-to-air missile hurtling toward the United Nations drone filming it from above. The location is 12 miles inside the Democratic Republic of Congo’s North Kivu province. The soldiers manning the Chinese-made Type 92 Yitian vehicle are Rwandan, according to Western military analysts who viewed the drone footage seen by Bloomberg. They are deep in foreign territory where their government loudly proclaims they’re not active, fighting alongside brutal rebel forces it says it doesn’t support…Conflict has simmered in eastern Congo since the mid-1990s in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide, exploding into two wars that left millions of people dead. The fighting, which intensified in late 2021 and involves dozens of armed groups, long-running ethnic tensions and at least five national armies, has now reached a peak not seen in at least a decade…“We've probably never really been as close to the potential for real war between Rwanda and the DRC as we are now,” said Stephanie Wolters, an analyst at the South African Institute of International Affairs. “All of the elements are at their peak, which is incredibly bad for eastern Congo and for the region as a whole.”…The conflict is the prime example of Rwandan President Paul Kagame's increasing defiance of Western countries that have poured billions of dollars in aid into Rwanda since the genocide and held Rwanda up as a model of development – and show little sign of forcing him to stop. In a sign of how Kagame generally manages to have it both ways, the EU earlier this year agreed to source critical minerals from Rwanda, even as it simultaneously joins the international chorus calling for Kigali to stop fueling the fighting in Congo…In Goma, a city of 2 million people, signs of the M23’s dominance are everywhere: armed groups and Congolese soldiers have taken up positions about 12 miles outside the city and civilian and military casualties from the frontlines can often be seen being rushed to local hospitals…The M23’s recent success in expanding its territory has brought about major shifts in Congo’s mineral industry…Raphaël Mboko Kaponyola, who runs the North Kivu provincial mining division office in Goma, said mineral smuggling into Rwanda has gotten worse since the M23 last year took control of the region’s main export routes from the Rubaya mine, the country’s biggest coltan producer. He also slammed the EU’s recent deal with Rwanda to “nurture sustainable and resilient value chains for critical raw materials.”…“We have been completely cut off. And meanwhile we see the European Union, instead of coming here, they sign deals over there,” he said.