As one of the most consistent powderkegs of conflict in the world, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has long been perceived by Western governments and businesses as politically “too hot to handle” for foreign investment into its resources sector.
Not so China, which has filled that badly-needed foreign investment void in the third-world country long ravaged by war, genocide and tribalism throughout modern history.
The DRC has come under scrutiny over the years for sketchy mining practices and human rights violations such as using children to mine coltan - a mineralisation vital to make batteries small enough for smartphones and
That's because the one-party leadership of the People's Republic doesn't have to deal with ethical questions about how it invests in war-torn countries like the West does and it now controls much of the Congo's exports of raw materials.
Global supply chain pivot
As the ongoing trade war between the United States and China spills over to affect the rest of the world's economies and industries with punitive tit-for-tat tariff measures, deals are still being made to shore up critical minerals supply chains.
Last year saw South America as a focus of large M&A activity surrounding key battery metals lithium and copper, as mining juggernauts Rio Tinto (ASX : RIO) and BHP (ASX: BHP) grew and consolidated their positions on the continent.
So far this year, there's been a renewed focus on the DRC's wealth of critical minerals, which has long been invested in by Chinese interests.
Geologically, it has one of the most dense caches of resources wealth across high value minerals such as diamonds, gold, coltan, cobalt and copper.
The DRC government is now waving its hand up to the West to help ease its current conflict as it sees help from countries such as the U.S. will be more beneficial for peacekeeping than attempting to turn to China for help.
Especially with incidents such as earlier this year when three Chinese nationals were arrested holding 10 gold bars and $400,000 in cash near the country's eastern border in South Kivu Province.
It's estimated there are more than a staggering 450 mining companies in South Kivu - most of them run by Chinese nationals and operated at the ground level by the local population.
Cobalt blues
A key element to the creation of batteries, roughly 40% of the world's cobalt output goes into the growing EV sector.
Although cobalt deposits do exist in regions like Australia, Europe and Asia, the DRC holds the largest reserves by far and currently accounts for ~74% of global supply and most of it - a whopping 87% - goes into Chinese supply chains.
China's CMOC Group, the world's largest producer of cobalt, says it expects to produce somewhere between 100,000–120,000t of cobalt this year, similar to its 2024 output of 114,165t - which was almost double its guidance of 60,000t.
Red metal wanderlust
As BHP's Escondida - the largest copper mine in the world - continues to mine ever lower average grades of copper (down to about 1% Cu per tonne nowadays), sourcing high-grade deposits elsewhere is becoming more in-vogue, despite the volatility of producing in countries with political unrest.
It's catapulted the DRC into becoming the world's fourth largest producer of the red metal in just 15 years, with miners extracting from super-high grade deposits such as Kamoa-Kakula, which produces at an average ore grade of a whopping 4.58%.
Couple that fact with Trump touting potential new tariffs on copper imports, high-grade deposits with better profit margins are becoming increasingly attractive.
Deal rumours are heating up
The U.S. government is now entertaining a push into places like the Congo, going against the grains of the past that saw such a move as political suicide.
In an interview with the New York Times last month, Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi said the Trump administration had shown keen interest in its vast mineral wealth.
The U.S. confirmed this, saying it was in “exploratory talks” with the DRC over a deal that would give America access to its critical minerals in exchange for military support for peace, the Financial Times reported.
Many mineral-rich areas in the eastern DRC are under the control of the M23 rebel group which smuggles minerals such as gold and diamonds over its borders with backing by neighbouring Rwanda.
DRC spokesperson Tina Salama has urged the U.S. to “directly buy critical minerals” from Kinshasa rather than sourcing its “looted” and “smuggled” resources through other countries and is looking to make a protection deal for its raw materials.
This coincides with a letter sent to U.S. secretary of state Marco Rubio on behalf of Congolese Senator Pierre Kanda Kalambayi late last month, proposing that the DRC could collaborate with US companies on extraction rights for mining projects.
