The Democratic Republic of the Congo has formally established a DRC–USA Task Force to accelerate implementation of its strategic minerals partnership with Washington, as copper sales to Western markets expand and U.S.-linked mining investment moves forward.
KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of the Congo — September 17, 2026 — The Democratic Republic of the Congo has formally created an official DRC–USA Task Force to accelerate implementation of its strategic minerals partnership with the United States.
The decision was approved by the Council of Ministers on September 11 and reported internationally by Reuters on September 15.
According to the cabinet account cited by Reuters, the task force is intended to move the December 2025 strategic partnership from signed commitments into implementation and help deliver what Economy Minister Daniel Mukoko Samba described as "concrete economic and security results" for Congolese citizens.
The government has not yet publicly released the task force's full membership or a definitive list of the priority projects it will supervise.
Formal structure for a partnership already producing transactions
The new task force gives the DRC a formal administrative mechanism for coordinating the partnership with Washington.
Reuters reported that the body had initially been expected to become operational earlier in 2026 but was delayed by administrative hurdles. Even so, implementation of parts of the partnership continued.
The strategic arrangement is already linked to several mining and marketing deals designed to increase Western access to Congolese critical minerals.
Reuters said the partnership has helped support U.S.-backed investment through Virtus Minerals while also expanding copper offtake arrangements involving state miner Gécamines, Mercuria and Glencore. Reuters
INVESTMENT DEALS
DRC Creates Task Force to Accelerate U.S. Minerals Deal
Sep 17, 2026
Sep 17, 2026
6 min read
Published
Updated:
The Democratic Republic of the Congo has formally established a DRC–USA Task Force to accelerate implementation of its strategic minerals partnership with Washington, as copper sales to Western markets expand and U.S.-linked mining investment moves forward.
KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of the Congo — September 17, 2026 — The Democratic Republic of the Congo has formally created an official DRC–USA Task Force to accelerate implementation of its strategic minerals partnership with the United States.
The decision was approved by the Council of Ministers on September 11 and reported internationally by Reuters on September 15.
According to the cabinet account cited by Reuters, the task force is intended to move the December 2025 strategic partnership from signed commitments into implementation and help deliver what Economy Minister Daniel Mukoko Samba described as "concrete economic and security results" for Congolese citizens.
The government has not yet publicly released the task force's full membership or a definitive list of the priority projects it will supervise.
Formal structure for a partnership already producing transactions
The new task force gives the DRC a formal administrative mechanism for coordinating the partnership with Washington.
Reuters reported that the body had initially been expected to become operational earlier in 2026 but was delayed by administrative hurdles. Even so, implementation of parts of the partnership continued.
The strategic arrangement is already linked to several mining and marketing deals designed to increase Western access to Congolese critical minerals.
Reuters said the partnership has helped support U.S.-backed investment through Virtus Minerals while also expanding copper offtake arrangements involving state miner Gécamines, Mercuria and Glencore. Reuters
ADVERTISEMENT
Gécamines redirects more copper toward U.S. and Western markets
One of the clearest examples is the growing role of Gécamines in directly marketing copper from its mining partnerships.
In January 2026, Gécamines announced that its trading arm had exercised a right to purchase 100,000 tonnes of copper from Tenke Fungurume Mining's 2026 production, representing 20% of TFM output.
Gécamines said that volume was intended for the U.S. market and linked the transaction to the objectives of the recent DRC–U.S. agreements.
The state miner has also deepened its commercial relationship with Mercuria.
In December 2025, Gécamines and Mercuria announced a partnership focused on marketing copper, cobalt and other critical minerals from the DRC, with the goal of improving transparency, market access and the value captured from Gécamines' equity-linked production.
Reuters has since reported that copper offtake arrangements involving Mercuria and Glencore have expanded, increasing Congolese sales to Western buyers. Reuters
Virtus Minerals strengthens the U.S.-linked mining presence
The partnership is also associated with U.S.-backed mining investment through Virtus Minerals.
In March 2026, the DRC Ministry of Mines approved the transfer of control of Chemaf to Virtus Minerals, according to a company announcement.
Virtus said the government had reviewed the transaction structure, financial capacity and plans for Chemaf's operations before approving the deal.
ADVERTISEMENT
The company has since pursued additional critical-mineral partnerships.
In April, US Strategic Metals announced an agreement with Virtus designed to help channel Congolese cobalt and copper into U.S. strategic supply chains.
In July, Virtus also signed a memorandum with Kennametal to explore tungsten potential across its DRC licences.
Washington is seeking more secure critical-mineral supply chains
The DRC is the world's largest producer of cobalt and one of the world's biggest copper exporters, making the country central to global competition over critical minerals.
Washington has been seeking to diversify supply chains away from heavy dependence on China, while Kinshasa has been trying to attract more Western investment and financing into mining, energy and infrastructure.
That alignment is one reason the DRC–U.S. strategic partnership has moved beyond diplomacy into concrete commercial transactions.
The new task force is expected to become the Congolese government's main coordination mechanism for moving those commitments into implementation.
However, important details remain outstanding.
TRENDING NOW
POPULAR TODAY
ADVERTISEMENT
The cabinet account did not identify the task force's full membership, its exact authority over individual projects or the list of projects it will prioritize.
A wider investment pipeline is taking shape
The U.S.-linked minerals push is not limited to copper marketing.
In February 2026, Glencore and the U.S.-backed Orion Critical Mineral Consortium announced a non-binding memorandum of understanding for Orion to potentially acquire a 40% stake in Glencore's interests in Mutanda Mining and Kamoto Copper Company, according to a Glencore regulatory announcement carried by Reuters.
The proposed transaction valued those assets at around $9 billion on a combined enterprise-value basis.
The arrangement would also give Orion the right to direct a share of production to nominated buyers under the U.S.–DRC strategic partnership framework.
That deal remains subject to further agreements and approvals, but it shows how the partnership is increasingly connected to large-scale mining and trading arrangements.
Same cabinet meeting approved the 2027 budget
The September 11 cabinet meeting also approved the DRC's proposed $24.8 billion 2027 national budget.
Reuters reported that the budget is about 12% larger than the revised 2026 spending plan, with infrastructure, security and economic diversification among the government's stated priorities. Reuters
The timing links two major government priorities: expanding the state's fiscal capacity while building a more formal structure for attracting foreign investment into strategic sectors.
ADVERTISEMENT
RELATED ARTICLE
