USA eyes DRC’s coltan
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USA eyes DRC’s coltan
The DRC and Rwanda peace deal signed this week explicitly integrates mineral rights, especially for coltan and cobalt.
By Leon Louw founder of WhyAfrica and editor of the WhyAfrica magazine.
The peace agreement signed between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda in Washington last week makes for interesting reading.
The lengthy document includes a clause that effectively ties United States private investments to mineral rich areas of the Eastern DRC.
The North Kivu and South Kivu provinces (bordering on Rwanda) is rich in cobalt, coltan (tantalum), tin, lithium and gold.
According to reports US investors have expressed particular interest in the Rubaya coltan mine which is currently being controlled by the M23 rebels. The aim is to convert the Rubaya cluster into a large-scale mining operation.
Minerals-for-security strategy
The DRC/Rwanda peace deal is framed as a minerals-for-security strategy, offering American companies preferential access in exchange for contributions to peace, security and stability.
The British newspaper Financial Times reports this morning that the “US is backing a high-stakes bid by Gentry Beach, a close ally of President Donald Trump, to acquire the Rubaya coltan mine.
Rubaya and Walikale
Rubaya (known by locals as the Bibatama Mining Concession) is a cluster of open pits located in Masisi Territory in North Kivu near the town of Rubaya.
Rubaya is about 105km from Alphamin Resources’ prolific Bisie tin mine, where the US has been actively involved in safeguarding and reopening one of the highest-grade tin operations in the world.
Bisie produces close to 6% of the world’s tin.
Key to end violence in the eastern DRC
According to reports the White House views the Rubaya coltan cluster (which produces more than 50% of the DRC’s coltan) as key to its economic approach to end decades of violence in the eastern DRC.
According to the Financial Times the plan would channel more than USD500-million in private investment into mining and infrastructure, thereby reducing Chinese dominance in the country’s critical minerals industry.
“Washington also hopes its investments in the region will lure M23 rebels out of contested areas.”
Coltan applications
Coltan is used widely in capacitors, high-performance electronics (especially in military-grade equipment), in medical devices, and in the aerospace and defense sectors.
The USA is almost entirely reliant on imports to meet it tantalum (and therefore coltan) needs and currently does not produce any tantalum (coltan).
To read more about critical minerals in Africa, geopolitics, and the sustainable use and responsible extraction of the natural resources in Africa, follow WhyAfrica or become a WhyAfrica member.
Image: Left to right: Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner, Foreign Minister of the DRC, Marcio Rubio, US Secretary of State and Olivier Nduhungirehe at the signing ceremony in Washington. Image credit: Euronews.
USA eyes DRC’s coltan