The U.S. is relying on offtake agreements and state-backed financing to compete with China in the near term for access to African copper, cobalt, and other critical minerals, according to diplomats, executives, and analysts ahead of this week’s Indaba.
Washington’s focus is on Zambia, Guinea and Democratic Republic of Congo. The latter accounts for more than 70% of global cobalt supplies and produced some 3.3 million metric tons of copper in 2024.
U.S. is using offtake and similar trading structures, such as agreements with Mercuria and Congo’s Gécamines, to steer output into U.S.-aligned value chains amid Chinese dominance in refining.
Offtake is where a country or company secures rights to a share of a mine’s output in exchange for financing or other support.
Both Washington and Beijing are expected to seek new commitments at the Indaba mining event in Cape Town this week, with the U.S. sounding out officials on its minerals bloc.
Gécamines plans to ship about 100,000 tons of Tenke Fungurume copper to U.S. buyers this year after a 2023 renegotiation with China’s CMOC expanded its marketing rights.
‘Financial Firepower Rather Than Industrial Presence’
The U.S. strategy stretches beyond copper.
Xiao Wenhao, analyst at Shanghai Metals Market, said China’s cobalt supply chain also faces risks as Congo’s export restrictions collide with expanding U.S.–DRC cooperation.
Elsewhere, London-based Pensana ditched plans to build a rare earth refinery in Britain to process feedstock from its mine in Angola, shifting the project to U.S., citing stronger U.S. incentives and price guarantees.
Chinese firms still control many of Congo’s biggest copper and cobalt assets, including Tenke Fungurume and Kamoa-Kakula, and have routed most output to China for refining for more than a decade.
Beyond copper and cobalt, Congo is emerging as a supplier of zinc, germanium and gallium.
China Versus the West
KoBold Metals has staked more than 3,000 square kilometers in the lithium and copper belt, but will not advance projects which are entangled in disputes, stressing governance standards, its Congolese head Benjamin Katabuka told Reuters.
Chinese operators, by contrast, have proceeded on contested ground, reinforcing their speed‑to‑market advantage.
At Manono, one of the world’s largest undeveloped lithium deposits, KoBold says it will not move until ownership issues are resolved, even as Zijin advances infrastructure on the northern block.
In Guinea, China‑backed Winning Consortium Simandou pushed ahead with rail and port construction at the giant Simandou despite ownership disputes, effectively forcing Rio Tinto to fall in line.
(With inputs from Reuters)
