IN SHORT: The DRC has expanded planned copper sales to the United States fivefold to 500,000 tonnes through a state-backed venture led by Gécamines and marketed via a joint venture with Mercuria Energy Group, backed by the US International Development Finance Corporation. The deal, first reported by Semafor, covers copper from Gécamines’ minority stakes in major mines including Kamoto Copper Company and Tenke Fungurume.
The Democratic Republic of Congo has raised its copper sales commitment to the United States to 500,000 tonnes, a fivefold increase from its initial January 2026 pledge of roughly 100,000 tonnes, in a strategic move to redirect a share of its critical mineral output toward Western markets and reduce dependency on Chinese buyers.
The agreement is led by state miner Gécamines and marketed through a joint venture with Mercuria Energy Group, with backing from the US International Development Finance Corporation, according to a Mining.com report citing Semafor.
- The DRC is the world’s second-largest copper producer after Chile, accounting for roughly 12% of global supply. Gécamines holds minority stakes in several of the country’s most productive operations, including Kamoto Copper Company, a joint venture with CMOC, and Tenke Fungurume, part-owned by CMOC and Eurasian Resources Group. The deal allows Gécamines to tender up to half of Kamoto’s 2026 and 2027 copper production, with potential extension beyond that period.
- The Western push for DRC copper is a direct counterweight to Chinese dominance. CMOC and Glencore are the two largest copper producers in the DRC, and Chinese companies control a disproportionate share of the midstream refining and offtake that converts Congolese ore into battery-grade copper cathode. The Gécamines-Mercuria-DFC venture creates an alternative offtake route that bypasses Chinese processors.
- The agreement builds on the broader US-Congo strategic mineral partnership signed in early 2026 that recognises the Lobito Corridor railway as the key logistics infrastructure for moving DRC and Zambian copper to Atlantic ports for export to US allies.
- Separately, the Zambia-Lobito copper rail link has been costed at up to $5 billion according to an environmental study published by the Zambia Environmental Management Agency in April 2026. Africa Finance Corporation is the lead developer. Construction is targeted to start this year with completion by 2030, with projected freight volumes reaching 2 million tonnes annually by 2031.
- The DRC copper expansion sits alongside the country’s cobalt strategic reserve (see separate story), part of a coherent strategy by Kinshasa to extract more economic value from its mineral endowment rather than serving purely as a raw material supplier to Chinese processors.
The expanded copper commitment intensifies the competition between Western and Chinese players for control of DRC critical mineral supply chains at a time when global copper demand is rising sharply ahead of the energy transition.
The Bigger Picture: Congo holds some of the world’s most strategically critical mineral deposits: approximately 70% of cobalt and a significant share of global copper. For decades Kinshasa received little of the financial value created downstream from those deposits. The Gécamines-Mercuria-DFC copper deal and the cobalt strategic reserve represent a fundamental shift in strategy: Congo is using its sovereign position to direct mineral flows toward the highest-value buyers rather than accepting the prices and channels set by its historically dominant customers. The geopolitical contest for Congolese copper and cobalt will define energy transition supply chains for the next two decades.
Source: Mining.com
