Democratic Republic of Congo’s mining capital becomes embroiled in U.S.-China conflict in Africa: NPR

Kolwezi, Democratic Republic of the Congo — There is little about Kolwezi, a small city in the southern Democratic Republic of the Congo, that hints at its global significance.

Surrounded by slag heaps, pits and quarry lakes, this unassuming city is home to some of the world’s largest copper and cobalt mines.

Kolwezi is now at the center of competition between the United States and China for vital minerals.

Earlier this year, mining companies began transporting ore along a U.S.-backed railway that terminates at the port of Lobito on Angola’s Atlantic coast. A major infrastructure project is focused on the railway, seen as a bid to counter China’s dominance over vital minerals in central Africa.

President Biden is visiting Lobito on Wednesday to promote the so-called “Lobito Corridor,” in which the United States, the European Union, the Group of Seven and private companies are mobilizing billions of dollars.

It was the final stop on a whirlwind three-day trip to Africa, the first and only visit of his presidency, and likely his last overseas trip before he leaves office in January.

Russell Fryer, CEO of UK-listed Critical Metals, said the project would be a boon for copper and cobalt mines being developed in Congo.

“We would like to sell our product, copper concentrate, to Europe or North America,” he said, adding that there is currently a “competition for assets” in Central Africa and that Western countries are increasing competition with China. .

At more than 1,300 miles long, the Lobito Atlantic Railway will significantly reduce transportation times from the Congo’s copper and cobalt mining regions. Lobito Port is also located in the Atlantic Ocean, closer to the United States and Europe than the Indian Ocean ports that are widely used in Africa.

Once completed, the line will also reach copper-rich Zambia.

But Congo remains the real prize. This poor and unstable country has incredible mineral resources, with some of the richest deposits concentrated around Kolwezi. For example, more than 70% of the world’s cobalt, a key metal used in electric car batteries and jet engines, comes from Congo. The country is also the second largest producer of copper.

However, despite recent US expansion into critical minerals, China remains an overwhelming force. The company owns more than 80% of Congo’s copper mines, according to the Lobito Corridor Investment Promotion Agency. And we have a similarly dominant position in cobalt mining.

In addition to all this, China’s Belt and Road Initiative has invested heavily in infrastructure, ports, roads and railways across the continent.

The Chinese presence is omnipresent in Kolwezi. Chinese characters are pasted on signboards and buildings, and there are many Chinese-run casinos in the city.

Most experts see the Lobito Railway as just a first step after years of US neglect of the region.

“This is just a railroad and nothing more,” says Christian Gero Nyema, a China-Africa analyst and non-resident scholar at the Carnegie Africa Program.

He added that the United States has little ability to compete with China because it does not have its own local companies. Lobito also does not hinder Chinese industry. Any company, including Chinese companies, can transport ore through the port.

U.S. officials have stressed that they are not forcing countries to choose sides and that the Lobito Corridor is a development project that will benefit Angola, Congo and Zambia.

Still, geopolitical competition means little to most Congolese, who see little benefit from their country’s vast mineral deposits.

Congo is considered one of the most corrupt countries on earth, ranking 162 out of 180 on the Corruption Perceptions Index, according to the NGO Transparency International.

In Kolwezi, hundreds of thousands of people make a living by extracting ore from the ground using rudimentary tools such as spades and pickaxes.

“It’s very difficult, very difficult,” said Marie Banza Goy, a 60-year-old woman who uses a shovel and a plastic bucket to search for chunks of green copper ore in a stream beneath a pile of industrial slag. For one day’s work, she earns the equivalent of $2.

Evidence of China’s presence at every level of Kolwezi’s mineral trade: Ngoyi sells his ore to Congolese intermediaries, who in turn sell the minerals to Chinese traders. he said.