The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) denied on Wednesday that it had ceded its vast mineral resources to the United States, after the signing of an agreement giving Washington potential access to copper, cobalt, coltan and lithium.
“The DRC has not sold anything at all,” insisted Mines Minister Louis Watum at the African Mining Indaba conference in Cape Town. According to him, the agreement, concluded in December with a peace plan for the east of the country, serves only as a framework for discussing mining projects with American companies, in compliance with the Congolese mining code .
Deputy Prime Minister Daniel Mukoko Samba stated that the DRC had submitted a list of strategic projects to Washington, which will be examined in the coming weeks by a joint committee.
When questioned about the US-China rivalry over strategic minerals, Watum stated that the DRC was focusing on its domestic priorities: education, employment, and economic development for its 120 million inhabitants . "There is room for everyone," he added, emphasizing that only 10% of the country's resources were being exploited , and comparing the DRC's position in the mining sector to that of Saudi Arabia in the oil market in the 1980s.
The DRC remains the world leader in cobalt , with 76% of global production in 2024, and its minerals are increasingly in demand for defense, artificial intelligence data centers and the energy transition.
