US closes in on critical minerals deal with DR Congo

The US is closing on a deal with the Democratic Republic of Congo that would see American companies take more control of critical mineral assets in return for greater backing for the embattled Kinshasa government.

US President Donald Trump’s newly appointed Africa adviser Massad Boulos said he had seen the outlines of the deal and had agreed a “path forward” with DR Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi.

The agreement would foster “US private sector investment in the DR Congo, particularly in the mining sector”, Boulos added in a video statement released by the DR Congo government.

Under the outlines of the agreement, the US International Development Finance Corporation would underwrite some of the US investments in the central African nation, said Joseph Szlavik, a Washington-based lobbyist who is advising the Congolese government.

The companies that would be drawn in under the new framework are not exclusively American, but US businesses would begin investing in DR Congo’s lithium and the agreement would go some way towards countering Chinese dominance of the country’s abundant copper and cobalt resources.

The Bill Gates-backed mining and artificial intelligence start-up KoBold Metals is among those eyeing the huge but legally disputed Manono lithium deposit. Other companies considering involvement are US-based Orion Resource Partners, US-Canadian mining investor Robert Friedland, British-Australian miner Rio Tinto and Saudi Arabia’s United Mining, said people familiar with the talks.

KoBold, Orion and Rio Tinto declined to comment. Friedland and United did not respond to requests for comment.

Other assets under discussion include the copper and cobalt assets controlled by Dubai-based Chemaf, a company backed by Singapore’s Trafigura. Chemaf has been up for sale since 2023 and is looking for a new buyer after a sale to China’s Norinco fell through due to opposition from Congo’s Gécamines. Chemaf declined to comment.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

DR Congo, which has vast supplies of copper, cobalt, coltan, tin and uranium, first approached the US in February with a proposal offering mining rights in exchange for support for the government, according to public documents.

The proposal comes at a time when Washington is pushing for an expanded minerals deal in Ukraine. But it remains unclear in DR Congo’s case what US involvement in reinforcing security would look like.

The security landscape in DR Congo is vastly different to Ukraine’s, as in addition to direct conflict with the Rwandan-backed M23 rebels, there are more than 140 armed groups active in the east of Congo.

Nevertheless, Congolese officials hope to use the deal to shore up backing for Tshisekedi as he struggles to contain the M23 uprising. The rebels have captured swaths of mineral rich territory and eastern DR Congo’s two largest cities, Goma and Bukavu.

Before leaving Kinshasa on Friday for talks over the weekend with Kenyan President William Ruto, Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni and Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, Boulos said: “We seek a lasting peace that affirms the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the DR Congo and lays the foundations for a thriving regional economy.”

Szlavik, who was speaking from Kinshasa, said the US had already helped broker an agreement that led to Rwandan-backed insurgents withdrawing from an area near the Alphamin Resources’ tin mine in eastern Congo. Alphamin is majority-owned by US-based Denham Capital.

The mine and surrounding area contributed nearly 10 per cent of global tin production last year and its capture led to a rise in tin prices and a drop in Alphamin’s share price. In return for withdrawing, the DR Congo government agreed to halt drone attacks on rebels in the area. Alphamin declined to comment.

Rwanda denies UN and western government reports that it is backing and arming the M23 rebels in part to exploit the abundance of minerals in DR Congo.

But Szlavik said Washington was under no illusions about Rwandan involvement. The DR Congo minerals deal talks and the involvement of Boulos — whose son Michael is married to Trump’s daughter Tiffany — in negotiations would send a strong signal to regional governments about how seriously the US takes Congolese sovereignty.

“If you lie, you are talking to the big man’s . . . in-law. The president of the US will finally hear directly about what is going on. It is an opportunity to get some chaos organised,” said Szlavik.

He added that there was already a huge amount of informal trade, including minerals smuggling, taking place on DR Congo’s eastern borders, with armed groups exploiting the instability for profit.

“The US is saying why don’t we build roads instead of buying arms and make a regional plan of how everyone can do business,” said Szlavik.

This could involve the creation of an industrial zone in Congo that would export processed metals via its neighbours, said others in Washington familiar with the talks.

But in comparison with the minerals deal the US is pushing for with Ukraine, the DR Congo one remains sketchy, said some Washington-based Africa experts.

Boulos’s meetings with Museveni in Uganda and Kagame in Rwanda in the coming days are key barriers as, given their military strength on DR Congo’s borders and their involvement with proxies, both leaders’ tacit support is critical to any deal working out.

Additional reporting by James Politi in Washington