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The Democratic Republic of Congo has formally presented a shortlist of state-owned mineral assets to the United States, signalling a significant step in a growing minerals partnership aimed at reshaping global supply chains for strategic metals.
Senior Congolese officials confirmed that the list, submitted to Washington last week, includes projects spanning manganese, copper, cobalt, gold, lithium, and other critical minerals.
The move marks the most transparent attempt yet by Kinshasa to translate recent diplomatic and security understandings with the US into long-term investment influence over the country’s vast mineral wealth.
The initiative follows a renewed push by Washington to secure alternative sources of critical minerals as it seeks to reduce dependence on China, which currently dominates global processing and refining capacity.
According to the International Energy Agency, China processes between 47 percent and 87 percent of key strategic minerals, including copper, lithium, cobalt, and rare earths.
For Congo, the partnership comes at a moment of heightened international interest in its resources. The country holds some of the world’s richest deposits of cobalt and copper, metals central to electric vehicles, renewable energy technologies, and advanced manufacturing.
Chinese firms have historically played a leading role in extracting and exporting these resources from Congo, positioning Beijing as a dominant external player in the sector.
The shortlisted assets have undergone several rounds of internal vetting, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to comment publicly.
One of them said the list represents “the most direct offer yet” by the Congolese state to invite US investors to assess and potentially invest in projects held by state-owned mining companies that are not already tied up in joint ventures or farm-out agreements.
Among the assets cited are Kisenge’s manganese, gold, and cassiterite licences, Gecamines’ Mutoshi copper cobalt project and a germanium processing venture, four gold permits held by Sokimo, lithium licences operated by Cominiere, and coltan, gold, and wolframite assets belonging to Sakima. A second official stressed that the entire process was being conducted in line with Congolese law.
The US has already signalled its commitment to the partnership through concrete financial backing. The US Development Finance Corporation has signed a minerals marketing agreement with Gecamines and supported the Lobito Corridor upgrade, a major regional rail and port project valued at about $553 million, designed to ease the export of minerals from central Africa to global markets.
The asset list has been submitted to a Joint Steering Committee for American investors, a bilateral body created to oversee implementation of the minerals pact.
The committee includes senior Congolese figures such as Deputy Prime Minister for the Economy Daniel Mukoko Samba, as well as the ministers of foreign affairs, mines, and finance, and the head of the mining regulator, ARECOMS.
While neither the Congolese government nor the US State Department offered immediate public comment, the next phase is expected to involve formal meetings of the joint committee and the start of negotiations with potential investors.
For African economies watching closely, the Congo-US minerals partnership underscores how critical resources are becoming central to global geopolitics, investment flows, and the continent’s strategic leverage in an increasingly competitive world.
