The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) may be trying to sell minerals to the Trump Administration and U.S. companies that it doesn’t have now or may not have in the future, according to regional analysts who claim they are under control of China and rebel groups.
The DRC has over $20 billion of minerals available, according to the DRC-based Panzi Foundation. This includes gold and copper. Importantly though, they are the world’s biggest producer of cobalt, essential for defense and aerospace applications, and a main ingredient in the batteries of many electric vehicles and mobile phones.
The minerals said to be on offer are mostly in the South and East of the country. The latter – the two Kivu provinces – are largely controlled by rebel forces, such as the Rwandan-backed M23, who disrupt the minerals from being sold through government channels. The M23, which is one of around 100 rebel groups fighting in the DRC, is reportedly starting peace talks with the DRC government on Monday. But Kinshasa didn’t turn up to the last talks, and hasn’t yet officially confirmed they will take part in discussions brokered by Angola.
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“A significant share of the DRCs known minerals’ deposits are in the east of the country in areas now under the control of foreign-backed rebel forces,” Frans Cronje, an advisor for the Yorktown Foundation for Freedom, explained, adding that “should these areas fall permanently under the control of rebel administrations, then the DRC government will lose the practical ability to exploit and sell mineral resources it still claims to control. The DRC forces are in disarray, have surrendered in large numbers, and do not have the resources to retake lost territory.”
Such critical minerals are attractive to the U.S., but just as in Ukraine, where the administration has been trying to access them, the DRC’s state of war makes them challenging to get at. The U.S. International Trade Administration published a report in March last year, stating “with total mineral wealth estimated in the tens of trillions of dollars, the DRC offers opportunities for American firms with a high tolerance for risk and familiarity operating in complex or fragile environments.”
There’s a potential red flag for the U.S. here, too: The red flag of China. A very large percentage of mining opportunities in the DRC have been signed up by China. 70% of the world’s cobalt is mined in the DRC. And the planet’s largest cobalt mine is in the DRC and run by the Chinese.
Bill Roggio, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and editor of The Long War Journal, told Fox News Digital that entry for the U.S. into the DRC is still possible, especially taking into account the Trump Administration’s preference for transactional arrangements “all legitimate mines – which make the most money for Congo – operate with permits from Kinshasa. And pretty much all the large and legitimate mines are co-owned by Congo’s government and/or state-owned mining companies and foreign mining companies.”
Roggio continued, “this does include some that are co-owned by Chinese mining companies. So Kinshasa has the right – and indeed ability – to offer such a deal to the U.S.”
The State Department is neither confirming nor denying that a deal is under discussion. “We have nothing to preview or announce at this time”, a spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
The spokesperson added, “The DRC is endowed with a significant share of the world’s critical minerals required for advanced technologies. The United States is open to discussing partnerships in this sector that are aligned with the Trump Administration’s America first agenda under the “Unleashing American Energy” executive order.”
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For their part, the DRC government is yet to make an official state-level approach to the Administration, and did not respond to questions from Fox News Digital. But on Tuesday, D.C.-based lobby group Von Batten-Montague-York, who are believed to represent the DRC, posted on X “the only confirmation we are willing to give is that a high-level delegation from the DRC government was in Washington, D.C., last week for meetings with the United States Congress and the @realDonaldTrump administration.”
Another issue is that various comments by DRC leaders show that, just like again in Ukraine, Kinshasa, in return for mineral sales, is said to want military assistance to combat the rebels. Those demands experts say could possibly include U.S. military boots on the ground.
The FDD’s Roggio added, “The sticking point would probably be that Congo wants U.S. troops on the ground, to help secure the mines that would be operated in a joint Congo-U.S. venture, and to replace the U.N. This is not necessarily out of the picture with Trump, but for an administration that publicly states it wants to end wars, not start them, it may be a point of contention or debate with Congo.”
“Some of the Congolese desires with U.S. troops definitely seems like a wish list to be negotiated down, however,” he added. “But also given that Trump is okay with competing economically with China, this does seem up his alley and would absolutely accomplish in undercutting China’s economic dominance in Africa. China wouldn’t like that, sure, but given the wider competition between the U.S. and China, this seems aligned within that frame of reference.”
It would be foolish in any negotiations to ignore the possible outcome of the DRC’s war, Cronje told Fox News Digital. “The likelihood is that the Rwandan-backed forces displace the DRC allied forces from the Kivu regions, and then establish new governing administrations placing the mineral resources outside the control of the DRC government.”
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