COUNTRY IN FOCUS •
Natanaelginting | Magnific. com
DRC ASSERTS CONTROL OVER STRATEGIC MINERAL VALUE CHAIN
By Dr Nicolaas Steenkamp
As the global energy transition accelerates, the Democratic Republic of Congo( DRC) has spent the months since the previous DRC Mining Week aggressively repositioning itself.
No longer content to be a passive provider of raw materials, Kinshasa is leveraging its status as the world’ s leading cobalt producer and a top-tier copper powerhouse to demand a greater share of the value chain.
The period has been defined by three major pillars: the operationalisation of " mineral sovereignty " through Gécamines, the formal launch of the Western-backed Lobito Corridor, and a tightening of local subcontracting laws that are fundamentally altering the operating environment for foreign majors.
The rise of mineral sovereignty The most significant shift in DRC’ s mining governance since July 2025 has been the move toward physical metal participation. Traditionally, the state-owned miner, Gécamines, relied on dividends and royalties from its joint ventures with international partners like CMOC Group and Glencore. However, the parastatal has transitioned to a " direct marketing " model.
In January 2026, Gécamines made headlines by exercising its right to purchase 100 000 tonnes of copper from the Tenke Fungurume Mining( TFM) 2026 production. This represents roughly 20 % of TFM’ s output, aligned with Gécamines’ equity stake. Crucially, this volume is earmarked for the United States market, fulfilling a strategic agreement signed between Kinshasa and Washington in late 2025.
Legislative refinements and ARSP enforcement On the legislative front, the Regulatory Authority for Subcontracting in the Private Sector( ARSP) has intensified its oversight. Since late 2025, the ARSP has been strictly enforcing the 2017 Subcontracting Law, which mandates that at least 51 % of any subcontracting firm must be owned by Congolese nationals.
Large-scale operators, particularly in the Lualaba and Haut-Katanga provinces, have faced rigorous audits. In February 2026, several major Chinese and Western firms were briefly suspended from awarding new contracts until they proved compliance with local content quotas. This " Congolese first " policy is designed to foster a domestic middle class and ensure that the estimated USD5-billion annual subcontracting market benefits local entrepreneurs.
The Lobito Corridor programme Launched officially in March 2026, the Lobito Corridor Programme is a flagship of the EU’ s Global Gateway and the US’ s Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment( PGI). The corridor, a 1 300km railway linking the Copperbelt to the Port of Lobito in Angola, aims to slash transit times for mineral exports from over 30 days to just under eight days.
Key developments include EU Funding of a EUR10-million programme launched in early 2026 to support trade facilitation and customs reform along the route. In February 2026, the first commercial shipments of copper and cobalt via the Lobito Atlantic Railway were successfully executed by the Entreprise Générale du Cobalt( EGC) and Trafigura. The SNCC( Société Nationale des Chemins de fer du Congo) received five new locomotives from China in February 2026 to bolster the DRC’ s portion of the rail link.
www. africanmining. co. za African Mining Publication African Mining African Mining • June 2026 • 15