U.S. struggling to de-risk Congo’s ‘war zone minerals’ even after pact: sources

4 MARCH 2026

The U.S. has made progress in its push to prise Congo’s strategic minerals from China’s orbit, but conflict, contested licences and compliance demands are still slowing Washington’s advance into a region its rival dominates.
Democratic Republic of Congo, which hosts the world’s largest cobalt supply and rich copper and lithium reserves, is central to the U.S. push to cut the West’s reliance on China for rare minerals.
After the U.S. and Congo signed a minerals pact in December 2025, Kinshasa last month handed Washington a 44-project shortlist spanning copper, cobalt, lithium, tin, gold and hydrocarbons.
The U.S.-Congo partnership is meant to unlock investment, the U.S. State Department said, and support implementation of a peace deal Washington brokered between Congo and Rwanda, which Kinshasa has accused of supporting M23 rebels fighting Congolese troops in its east.
The U.S. State Department said the U.S. remains “deeply concerned” by violence in eastern Congo and is pushing regional partners to reinforce the ceasefire, urging Rwanda to end M23 support and withdraw in line with December’s peace deal.