- DRC’s state-owned Gécamines SA announced the sale of copper and cobalt to the U.S. following an agreement signed between the two countries at the end of 2025.
- The minerals agreement was signed alongside a U.S.-mediated peace deal between Rwanda and the DRC; the former gives the U.S. preferential access to critical minerals mined in the DRC, which are currently mainly exported to China.
- The U.S.-DRC export arrangement could strengthen the DRC’s control over its mineral resources and boost revenues. Still, it is unclear whether a new export partner would signify a change in how minerals are extracted in the DRC.
- NGOs warn of persistent risks related to the governance of the state-owned Gécamines and to unresolved environmental and health impacts around the Tenke Fungurume mine, from which the copper slated for export to the U.S. originates.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) shared with the U.S. administration a list of state-backed projects for investment consideration in which critical minerals like copper, manganese and lithium are being mined, according to Reuters. The Central African nation had already announced plans to ship 100,000 metric tons of copper to the U.S. by the end of January.
The move operationalizes a strategic partnership between the U.S. and the DRC, one conceived alongside the peace deal the U.S. helped broker between the DRC and Rwanda.
The US signed a series of bilateral agreements with the two African countries, which U.S. President Donald Trump touted not just as a diplomatic victory but also an economic win for the U.S.
“Today, the United States is also signing our own bilateral agreements with the Congo and Rwanda that will unlock new opportunities for the United States to access critical minerals and provide economic benefits for everybody,” Trump said at the peace deal signing ceremony.
Since February 2025, parts of eastern DRC along the Rwanda-DRC frontier have been under the control of M23, an armed group allegedly backed by Rwanda. This was a major escalation of a long-simmering dispute in the politically volatile part of the Great Lakes region. In response, Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi requested assistance from his U.S. counterpart, who mediated a peace deal, the Washington Accords for Peace and Prosperity, between the two countries.
“We’ll be involved. We’re sending some of our biggest and greatest companies over to the two countries, and we’re going to take out some of the rare earth and take out some of the assets and pay, and everybody’s going to make a lot of money,” Trump said in December.
The copper slated for export to the U.S. will come from the Tenke Fungurume Mine (TFM), located near Kolwezi in Lualaba province, in southern DRC. The mine is operated by the Chinese company CMOC Group Ltd. in partnership with the Congolese state-owned mining company Gécamines SA.
Gécamines Trading, a new subsidiary of Gécamines SA, was created to facilitate the acquisition and trading of minerals mined at Gécamines-backed operations.
“We are happy with this first operation, which is the culmination of more than a year of work to strengthen the Democratic Republic of Congo’s position on the global raw materials [or minerals] stage and to give concrete form to the Congolese state’s determination to assert its sovereignty over its subsoil,” Placide Nkala Basadilua, chief executive officer of Gécamines, said in a statement.
The sale was made possible by an agreement signed in 2023 between Gécamines and CMOC, granting the DRC the right to a share of the output proportional to its ownership stake. In practical terms, Gécamines holds a 20% stake in the mine and can therefore acquire 20% of its production and sell it to a partner of its choosing. This arrangement allows the Congolese state to set its own prices and better control its mining revenues.
“Congo must diversify its partners and not deal exclusively with a single one to the detriment of others,” Jean-Pierre Okenda, an expert in natural resource governance, said in a phone interview with Mongabay. “China has an almost monopolistic position over our copper and cobalt, and I think this situation does not suit China’s competitors.” CMOC owns 80% of the Tenke Fungurume Mine.
But civil society groups say, regardless of whether the copper is exported to China or the U.S., concerns about poor governance of mineral rights in the DRC persist.
In 2023, a report by the IGF, the DRC’s financial watchdog, flagged the embezzlement of $10 million from the state-owned enterprise.
“If Gécamines’ governance remains based on the same model characterized by a lack of transparency, opaque transactions and conflicts of interest among its executives, this initiative risks becoming an empty shell that will not truly benefit either Gécamines or the Congolese state,” warns Jean-Pierre Lwamba, director of the Human Rights Program at Afrewatch.
It also remains to be seen whether the new trading arrangements lead to any change in the conditions under which the minerals are extracted, including human rights and environmental protections.
“There are currently serious environmental problems in areas where mining activities are happening. Communities report health issues linked to mining operations, and these complaints have not yet received any response. To this day, these communities remain without compensation or support,” Lwamba told Mongabay. Afrewatch has published several reports about TFM.
In the long run, Gécamines aims to secure sales rights of up to 500,000 metric tons of copper and 40,000 metric tons of cobalt from its stake in various mining operations.
The rising demand for the two minerals owes primarily to their use in the renewable energy sector. The growth of energy-intensive AI applications has also fueled demand in recent years.
Copper is an essential component of electronic chips and electrical cables, while cobalt is critical to the production of low-carbon batteries used in electric vehicles. The growing demand presents developing countries rich in these minerals, such as the DRC, with significant opportunities and challenges. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), demand for minerals essential to the energy transition, such as lithium, cobalt and copper, could increase nearly fourfold by 2030.
Gécamines plans to start shipping copper to the U.S. at the end of January.
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