US moves to muscle into Africa’s Copperbelt with state-backed mining play

Key topics.Glencore Plc deal could anchor a new US-backed mining vehicleWashington aims to counter China in copper and cobalt supply chainsCongo deal may be first step toward a US-led Africa mining house.Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here..By William Clowes and Jack Farchy.A US government-backed group’s plan to take stakes in Glencore Plc’s Congolese copper operations could be the first step in creating an American company to accumulate mining assets in Africa.Orion CMC – a new venture led by Orion Resource Partners with sovereign backing from the US International Development Finance Corp. and Abu Dhabi’s ADQ – on Tuesday announced a preliminary deal to buy 40% of Glencore’s stakes in its copper-cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The deal would be the first major transaction since the creation of the consortium late last year and deepens the Trump administration’s efforts to shore up supplies of critical minerals and make up ground lost to China. Having relied on the private mining sector for decades, the US is now seeking government-level supply alliances worldwide, funding a vast new stockpiling program, and pursuing pricing floors to keep miners in operation during market downswings..The transaction would create a new entity – 60% owned by Glencore and 40% by Orion CMC – that could become a vehicle to buy up additional assets in the so-called Central African Copperbelt, according to people familiar with the matter. That company could take on new investors and eventually seek to go public, they said, asking not to be named discussing matters that haven’t been disclosed. While the two sides have discussed various structures and plans for the new vehicle, the talks are ongoing and the final strategy has yet to be agreed upon, one of the people cautioned. .The Copperbelt spans Congo and Zambia, which are Africa’s top two producers of the industrial metal that’s also key to electrification and the broader energy transition. Congo is the world’s largest supplier of cobalt, which is used in electric-vehicle batteries as well as the defence and aerospace industries.Chinese miners account for most output of the metals in Congo, while western firms First Quantum Minerals Ltd. and Barrick Mining Corp. are the biggest copper producers across the border in Zambia.The proposed transaction represents a turnaround for Glencore’s relationship with the US government. The Swiss trader settled a corruption probe in May 2022 by pleading guilty to bribery allegations that involved payments made to officials in Congo. The US Justice Department ended a monitoring program at Glencore just 10 months ago — earlier than initially planned — which was part of the plea agreement..Glencore is currently in talks to sell itself to Rio Tinto Group to create the world’s largest mining company. A key attraction for Rio is Glencore’s copper portfolio, although principally assets in South America rather than its Congolese units: Mutanda Mining and Kamoto Copper Co.While the statement announcing the agreement said the enterprise value of the assets would be about $9 billion, Orion CMC is likely to pay Glencore considerably less for its 40% stakes. That’s because Glencore owns 70% of Kamoto and 95% of Mutanda, and there’s also substantial debt at the asset level. Based on the $9 billion valuation, Orion CMC could pay a little over $2 billion, one of the people said, although they cautioned that the final price is still being negotiated.Potential deals involving the Glencore subsidiaries have been complicated in recent years by Dan Gertler, an Israeli billionaire who’s under US sanctions and receives royalties from both mines in non-US currency. The US government is working to ensure that Orion CMC’s transaction can occur without breaking American law, the people said.A DFC spokesperson said that, while the organization can’t comment on specific deals due to commercial sensitivities, it “takes compliance with US sanctions very seriously in all transactions it supports.” The State Department and Treasury Department didn’t respond to emailed requests for comment. Orion has been discussing an investment in Glencore’s Congolese mines since it made an initial approach in late 2024, Bloomberg has reported. But the partnership with the DFC unveiled in October and a minerals pact signed by the US and Congolese governments in December accelerated the talks, the people said..The deal between Orion CMC and Glencore “reflects the core objectives of the US-DRC Strategic Partnership Agreement by encouraging greater US investment in the DRC’s mining sector,” US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said in the statement.The US government’s investment in Orion CMC “aims to leverage Orion’s market knowledge and expertise” to “enhance critical mineral supply chain security for the US and its allies,” the DFC spokesperson told Bloomberg by email.Orion CMC is also involved in another smaller deal in Congo, backing Delaware-registered Virtus Minerals Inc.’s efforts to buy Chemaf SA, which ran into financial difficulties while building one of the world’s biggest cobalt mines, according to people familiar with the matter.The agreement with Glencore was announced the day before a ministerial meeting on critical minerals hosted by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Orion CMC wants other allied countries to join the US and United Arab Emirates as investors in the venture, the people said. .© 2026 Bloomberg L.P.

US moves to muscle into Africa’s Copperbelt with state-backed mining play

Key topics

Related Stories