The Democratic Republic of Congo has formally approved a task force to accelerate implementation of its strategic minerals partnership with the United States, as Kinshasa seeks to attract more Western investment into its copper and cobalt industries.

The September 11 cabinet decision establishes a “DRC-USA Task Force” to turn commitments under the partnership into concrete economic and security projects, Reuters reported on September 15, citing cabinet minutes.

The formal cabinet approval follows months of preliminary coordination. Prime Minister Judith Suminwa chaired a first meeting of the implementation mechanism in June, when the government said a joint US-DRC steering committee had already been established.

At that meeting, Kinshasa said it had submitted about 50 strategic projects to the US side and received an initial list of strategic mineral assets covered by the partnership. The proposed projects extend beyond mining to energy, transport, rail and port infrastructure and domestic mineral processing.

A consortium comprising Mida Advisors, Standard Bank Group (JSE: SBK) and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) has separately presented the government with a mechanism to mobilise long-term private financing for projects under the partnership.

The DRC, the world's largest cobalt producer and second-largest copper exporter, signed the strategic minerals partnership with Washington in December 2025 as the US sought to diversify critical-mineral supply chains and Kinshasa looked to broaden investment beyond China.

China nevertheless remains deeply embedded in the Congolese mining sector. As IntelliNews reported in March, the DRC signed a separate mining cooperation agreement with Beijing covering geological data, investment protection and local mineral processing. Chinese groups including CMOC (SSE: 603993; HKEX: 03993), Zijin Mining (SSE: 601899; HKEX: 02899) and Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt (SSE: 603799) hold major interests in Congolese copper and cobalt assets.

Implementation of the US partnership has already produced a US-backed mining investment through Virtus Minerals, which bought Chemaf's Congolese copper and cobalt assets for $30mn in March and agreed to assume about $900mn of debt. The acquisition was the first physical mining investment under the US-DRC partnership. Reuters subsequently reported that Virtus had overstated aspects of its previous mining experience, raising questions about due diligence surrounding the transaction.

The strategy is also redirecting some Congolese copper towards Western markets. Gécamines in January exercised its right to buy 100,000 tonnes of Tenke Fungurume Mining's 2026 copper output for sale to the US with support from privately held commodities trader Mercuria.

As IntelliNews reported earlier this month, US imports of Congolese copper cathode surged to a record 53,290 tonnes in July, accounting for 23.9% of total US copper imports that month. July shipments alone exceeded the less than 32,000 tonnes imported from the DRC during all of 2024. Gécamines has said it ultimately aims to secure marketing rights over as much as 500,000 tonnes of copper a year.

The expansion of US-bound shipments does not necessarily mean copper is being diverted directly from China, since trade data identify the country of origin rather than the mine or producer. Rising Congolese output has also increased the volume available for alternative export markets.

Separately, Glencore is negotiating the sale of a 40% interest in its Mutanda and Kamoto copper-cobalt operations to a US-backed consortium in a transaction valuing the assets at about $9bn including debt.

The Congolese government has not disclosed the task force's composition or identified the priority projects it will oversee. Economy Minister Daniel Mukoko Samba has previously said larger projects under the partnership could require financing from additional investors and development institutions rather than Washington alone.