DR Congo is set to send the US its first shipment of copper through a new venture backed by commodity giant Mercuria, as Kinshasa tries to broaden its pool of mining partners beyond Beijing.
Under a new contract announced on Monday DR Congo’s state miner Gécamines will ship 100,000 tons of copper from its Chinese-run Tenke Fungurume mine to the US market. The move follows the signing of a strategic partnership between Washington and Kinshasa last month “to advance economic and resource security.”
Gécamines said efforts to prioritize the US as a market was part of a push to “regain its sovereignty” over DR Congo’s mineral output, after decades in which marketing was mainly handled by foreign third parties such as commodities traders Glencore and Trafigura, alongside Chinese buyers and smelters.