The United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) signed an agreement on September 23, 2026, with the Congolese company Buenassa Resources, which specializes in mineral processing. This partnership provides funding for a pre-feasibility study for the construction of a copper and cobalt refinery in the Lualaba province, at the heart of mining activity in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The future infrastructure is expected to produce metals for several strategic sectors, including energy, construction, artificial intelligence, and defense. Buenassa Resources presents this project as one of the first private Congolese initiatives of this scale aimed at strengthening the local processing of critical minerals, with support from the United States.
The study funded by the USTDA is a first step toward realizing this industrial infrastructure. It will primarily identify potential ore suppliers capable of feeding the future refinery, define its technical design, and determine the economic and financial parameters necessary for its long-term viability.
According to the American agency's statement, U.S. companies interested in conducting this pre-feasibility study can submit their proposals on the USTDA website dedicated to international projects.
Beyond this study phase, the project could also open opportunities for U.S. companies specializing in mineral processing. The construction and operation of the refinery could specifically require equipment, technologies, and technical expertise provided by American firms, according to the USTDA.
This initiative is part of Kinshasa's strategy to increase the local processing of its mining resources. The DRC holds the largest cobalt reserves in the world and is among the world's leading copper producers.
The country is the leading African producer of copper and the second largest globally, behind Chile. For the Congolese authorities, this position must now serve as a lever for the development of a local processing industry to reduce dependence on exports of raw or minimally processed minerals.
The Congolese Minister of State for Industry, Justin Kalumba, presented it as a component of the strategy to make the DRC a global center for the processing of critical minerals. He considers the future refinery to be an industrial anchor point for the Lobito corridor, intended to connect the mining zones of the DRC to Atlantic markets.
Claude Paul Tjeg
Published on 09/25/26 10:53
The Editorial Board