The southern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), known as the Copperbelt, is a key source of copper, cobalt, and other minerals, including uranium. This area was once a critical supplier of uranium for the U.S. Manhattan Project during World War II, which developed the first atomic bombs. The main uranium source was the Shinkolobwe mine in the southeastern part of the DRC, which has been officially closed to mining since 2004. While the DRC has not officially reported any uranium exports in recent decades, new research suggests that significant amounts of uranium may be leaving the country disguised as cobalt exports. A study published in July 2026 estimates that between 2,000 and 5,000 tonnes of natural uranium were exported from the DRC through shipments of cobalt-hydroxide between 2000 and 2024. Less than 10% of this uranium was reported to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which oversees global uranium tracking. Most of this material was exported to China, which dominates the global cobalt market. The study was conducted by geologists who used geological maps and data on ore processing to estimate the uranium content in cobalt shipments, linking cobalt production to uranium exports. Uranium and cobalt often occur together in the same rock formations and respond similarly to chemical processing, making them difficult to separate. This geological coincidence means that the same minerals that supply most of the world’s cobalt also contain elevated levels of uranium. Over millions of years, uranium has spread throughout the Copperbelt region through natural processes like water movement. When extracting cobalt, uranium typically remains in the final product, unless special refining processes are used. These processes, which began around 2020, are not widely implemented, and only a few of the 31 operations studied appeared to be consistently removing uranium from their products. The scale of the DRC's cobalt industry presents a significant challenge in tracking uranium. In 2024 alone, the country exported over 200,000 tonnes of cobalt, and each shipment should ideally be checked for radioactivity. However, this requires consistent use of sensitive equipment, which is not always in place, allowing high-uranium shipments to escape regulation. Even if uranium removal were widely practiced, the volume of cobalt exports would still allow enough uranium to be sent to China to potentially produce about 12 nuclear weapons annually, based on estimates from the study. The unreported flow of uranium poses not only a global security risk but also a serious threat to the health and environment of people living near these mines. Workers in the mines are exposed to uranium, and the study estimates that between 1,000 and 4,000 tonnes of uranium have been discarded in tailings—waste material from mining—that can easily spread into surrounding areas. These tailings pose long-term risks to public health and the environment, especially if they contaminate water sources. To address these issues, the study recommends systematic testing of cobalt shipments to measure uranium content, ensuring transparency. It also calls for monitoring radiation exposure among workers and implementing policies to remove uranium from cobalt products and safely dispose of it in isolated tailings areas. These steps are seen as crucial for reducing environmental and health risks while improving global oversight of uranium flows.