Falling metal prices, power shortages and anticipated tax increases are threatening the Democratic of Congo’s mining industry even as copper, gold and cobalt output hit record highs, the country’s main business group said.

“Exploration projects are being wound down or halted, assets are being sold off and vigorous efforts are under way to cut production costs,” the Chamber of Mines at the Federation des Entreprises du Congo said in a report e-mailed Wednesday from the capital, Kinshasa.

Amid global price slumps for many metals, the country’s miners are trying to forestall a revision of the 2002 mining code that would increase mineral royalties and taxes and remove several tax exemptions. Debate on the revisions is scheduled for for the current session of parliament that ends in June. The government has committed to reopen negotiations over the terms, the FEC said.

The revision “could not have come at a worse time, and will have dramatic consequences for the future,” it said.