The Democratic Republic of Congo approved the Musompo Special Economic Zone in February 2025 to produce battery precursor materials, targeting $2 billion in private investment across 900 hectares, advancing Africa's battery value chain while cathode and cell manufacturing remain undeveloped continent-wide.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is negotiating with Belgium to recover colonial-era geological maps and mineral data held in Brussels, aiming to identify new copper, cobalt, and lithium deposits and assert geoscientific sovereignty over its vast natural resources.
Congo and Belgium agreed in 2026 to digitize and share colonial-era geological records critical for mining exploration, potentially accelerating access to vast cobalt, copper, and lithium reserves currently underexplored in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
African Mining Week (AMW) to Highlight Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Advanced Tech Driving Africa’s $8.5T Mining Transformation
DR Congo cancelled AVZ Minerals' permits. The Australian firm lost permits due to non-payment. China gains ground in the sector.
Belgium unlocks colonial-era Congo mining records worth $24 trillion.
Congo and Belgium agreed to digitize and transfer colonial-era geological records stored in a Belgian museum, enabling Congo to unlock clues to undiscovered mineral deposits including copper, cobalt, and lithium critical for global technology supply chains.
The Democratic Republic of Congo seeks millions of colonial-era maps from Belgium to control its mineral data.
African Mining Week will showcase how artificial intelligence and advanced technologies are reshaping the continent's mining sector, worth $8.5 trillion, representing a pivotal modernization moment for Africa's resource-dependent economies.
Congolese Mines Minister Louis Watum Kabamba and his delegation survived a plane accident in southern Democratic Republic of Congo after the plane caught fire
The Democratic Republic of Congo activated an eight-year-dormant 2018 Mining Code provision in January 2026, requiring foreign mining companies to allocate 5% worker equity stakes by July 2026, enforcing resource nationalism amid global energy transition demand for critical minerals.
The Democratic Republic of Congo advances in reclaiming colonial-era geological records from a Belgian museum.
The Democratic Republic of Congo seeks restitution of colonial geological archives from Belgium to assert data sovereignty, modernize mining management, and compete in the global critical minerals economy amid geopolitical competition.
African Mining Week in Cape Town this October will convene industry stakeholders to examine how artificial intelligence and advanced technologies are transforming Africa's $8.5 trillion mining sector, with nations like the DRC, Zambia, and Ghana deploying AI to accelerate mineral exploration and unlock untapped resources.