An American mining company has planted its flag in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for the first time in over a decade, acquiring two cobalt and copper operations in a direct challenge to China's stranglehold on minerals the U.S. military and economy cannot do without.
Virtus Minerals, backed by the State Department and the broader framework of the Washington Accord signed last December, invested in Chemaf, a local DRC producer running mines at Lubumbashi and Kolwezi. A ribbon-cutting ceremony at one of the sites drew Ian J. McCary, the U.S. Chargé d'Affaires in Kinshasa, alongside Virtus CEO Phillip Braun and Chemaf Managing Director Sooryanarayanan Prabhakaran.
The deal matters because the numbers behind it are stark. The Strategic Studies Institute reports that 80 percent of the world's cobalt comes from the DRC, and 80 percent of that production is controlled by China. Both cobalt and copper sit on the U.S. government's official list of critical minerals. For two decades, Beijing built what one analyst called "deep structural dominance" across Africa's resource sector while Washington largely watched.
President Trump signed the Washington Accord on December 4, 2025, at the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace, with Rwanda's President Paul Kagame and DRC President Felix-Antoine Tshisekedi present. The accord aims to curb Chinese domination of critical minerals and open the door for American mining companies in the DRC. It also seeks to end fighting between the DRC and Rwandan-backed forces in the country's east.
Trump called it "a great day for Africa, a great day for the world."
The Virtus acquisition is the first concrete U.S. rare earth minerals deal in the DRC since that signing. The company now holds 56 mining licenses across the country. Its two active sites, the Étoile mine in Lubumbashi and the Mutoshi mine in Kolwezi, aim to produce 75,000 tonnes of copper and 20,000 tonnes of cobalt per year once processing plants, currently under development, come online next year.
Those minerals would move westward along the Lobito Corridor, a rail route running to a port in Angola. The U.S. has committed $5 billion to the corridor's development, building an export path that bypasses Chinese-controlled supply routes entirely.
A State Department spokesperson left no ambiguity about the administration's posture. The spokesperson said President Trump and Secretary Rubio "remain firmly committed to supporting U.S. companies that seek to do business in the DRC" and described the Virtus deal as "an initial flagship U.S. investment" meant to "catalyze further investment."
"The United States government fully supports the efforts of Virtus Minerals. This acquisition serves as an initial flagship U.S. investment in the DRC, and sends a clear signal that the U.S. private sector interest is real and will catalyze further investment in alignment with the U.S.-DRC Strategic Partnership Agreement, which positions the DRC to play an integral role in the Trump Administration's global efforts to secure critical mineral supply chains."
The spokesperson also took a direct shot at Beijing's record in the region, saying increased U.S. investment would "create quality jobs for American and Congolese workers, foster skills development and support local communities that have long been exploited by the opaque systems constructed and perpetuated by adversarial foreign actors who have controlled the DRC's critical minerals sector."
That phrase, "adversarial foreign actors", is diplomatic language, but the target is plain. China has spent two decades locking up mining concessions, processing capacity, and export infrastructure across Africa. The result is a supply chain in which the United States depends on a strategic competitor for minerals essential to defense systems, electric vehicles, and advanced electronics.
The administration's broader posture on critical minerals extends beyond Africa. The tension between domestic mining policy and China's mineral dominance has been a recurring flashpoint, making overseas acquisitions like this one all the more significant.
Braun, who serves as both Virtus CEO and Chemaf chairman, told Fox News Digital that the company's first priority is bringing the Étoile and Mutoshi plants to full production. From there, Virtus intends to explore the full range of its 56 mining permits, covering copper, cobalt, and other metals like tungsten.
"None of this would be possible without the strong partnership now growing between the United States and the DRC, and the support of leaders in both countries who saw what was possible. We look forward to bringing our two nations closer by building a steady, trusted supply of the minerals we depend on and supporting other American companies that want to invest in the DRC any way we can."
The scale of the ambition is notable. Seventy-five thousand tonnes of copper and 20,000 tonnes of cobalt annually would represent a meaningful foothold, though still a fraction of China's entrenched position. Virtus describes itself as the first U.S.-owned operator back in the DRC in more than a decade, a gap that speaks to years of American neglect in a region Beijing treated as a priority.
Trump has shown a willingness to use executive authority to advance resource and industrial projects domestically as well. His executive order invoking the Defense Production Act for an Oakland coal export terminal reflected the same instinct: remove bottlenecks, move materials, and stop ceding ground.
Frans Cronje, president of the Washington-based Yorktown Foundation for Freedom, framed the Virtus deal in blunt strategic terms. He told Fox News Digital that the move "signals a more assertive United States effort to compete with China for access to Africa's critical mineral base, particularly in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where cobalt and copper are strategically vital to global energy and defense supply chains."
"China has built deep structural dominance across much of Africa's resource sector over the past two decades, but U.S.-backed initiatives such as this suggest a shift towards more direct engagement, rather than relying on Chinese-controlled supply routes. This matters because Africa's vast resource endowment, combined with its geostrategic position along key Atlantic and Indian Ocean corridors, makes it central to future global economic and security competition."
Cronje added that "a more active U.S. presence in these supply chains would mark a significant rebalancing of influence on the continent, with implications not only for resource access but for broader geopolitical alignment in regions that are becoming increasingly contested."
The broader U.S.-China competition has played out across multiple fronts in recent months. Trump's summit with Xi Jinping in Beijing produced trade commitments, but the mineral supply chain remains one of the hardest arenas to crack. China's advantages are structural, built over years through state-backed investment, opaque contracting, and relationships with local power brokers that American firms never cultivated.
The DRC itself has not publicly commented on the Virtus acquisition. Fox News Digital reached out to the DRC government and did not receive a response.
The Washington Accord's peace component faces real tests. Despite the December signing, the M23 rebel group, backed by Rwanda, has continued operations in eastern DRC. The accord was supposed to help end that fighting, but the security situation remains volatile. Mining operations in a country plagued by armed conflict carry risks that boardroom projections cannot fully capture.
There are also unanswered questions about the deal itself. The precise financial terms of Virtus's investment in Chemaf have not been disclosed. The ownership structure remains unclear. And the processing plants that would turn raw ore into exportable product are still under development, with completion expected sometime next year.
Navigating the DRC's political and security landscape has historically been treacherous for foreign investors. China managed it through a combination of state backing, tolerance for corruption, and sheer persistence. Whether an American company can replicate that staying power, under rule-of-law constraints that Beijing ignores, is the open question.
The diplomatic friction surrounding Trump's engagement with China has been visible in other settings as well. Tensions during the Beijing summit extended even to security protocols, a reminder that competition with China plays out at every level.
The Lobito Corridor investment, the Washington Accord, the U.S.-DRC Strategic Partnership Agreement, and now the Virtus acquisition form a connected strategy, one aimed at building an alternative to Chinese-controlled mineral supply chains from mine to port. The $5 billion corridor commitment alone signals a seriousness that previous administrations never demonstrated in this space.
For years, Washington talked about countering China in Africa while doing almost nothing concrete. Beijing filled the vacuum with cash, contracts, and infrastructure. The result was a dependency so deep that American defense contractors and technology firms relied on a rival nation for materials they could not source elsewhere.
Virtus Minerals putting shovels in the ground in Lubumbashi and Kolwezi does not erase two decades of inaction overnight. But it represents something Washington has lacked in this arena for a long time: a tangible commitment backed by diplomatic muscle, private capital, and a president willing to make the deal.
You do not win a mineral race by writing white papers. You win it by owning mines.
