• The US is moving from market-led sourcing to state-backed upstream investment, supporting Orion CMC’s bid to secure copper and cobalt assets in Congo
• This is part of a broader effort to counter China’s dominance of critical mineral supply chains
• The structure points to longer-term ambitions, with the joint venture positioned to acquire additional Copperbelt assets, attract allied sovereign investors and potentially list publicly, creating a US-aligned mining vehicle focused on Africa

Harare - The US government has backed a new Africa-focused mining vehicle aimed at securing strategic copper and cobalt assets as part of a broader effort to reduce reliance on Chinese-controlled supply chains, according to Bloomberg.

That backing has materialised through Orion CMC, a newly formed consortium led by private equity firm Orion Resource Partners, with sovereign participation from the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and Abu Dhabi’s ADQ.

This week, the group announced a preliminary agreement to acquire 40% of Glencore Plc’s interests in its copper and cobalt operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a jurisdiction that combines world-class mineral endowment with elevated political and regulatory risk.

The transaction would be Orion CMC’s first major deal since its formation late last year. More importantly, it would signal a recalibration of US strategy toward Africa’s mining sector, where US has historically been underrepresented relative to Chinese state-backed firms.

Rather than relying on market access and downstream procurement, the US is now seeking upstream exposure through state-supported capital structures.

For decades, US industrial policy assumed that global commodity markets  and the private sector operating within them  would reliably supply raw materials.

That assumption has weakened as mineral supply chains have become more geographically concentrated and politically exposed. Copper and cobalt illustrate this shift clearly.

Copper underpins electrification, grid expansion, electric vehicles and data infrastructure. Cobalt remains critical for high-performance batteries as well as defence and aerospace applications.

The Central African Copperbelt, spanning southern Congo and northern Zambia, sits at the centre of both supply chains. Congo alone accounts for more than 70% of global cobalt output, while the two countries together are among the world’s largest copper producers.

Over the past two decades, Chinese firms  supported by policy banks, concessional finance and infrastructure-for-minerals arrangements  have come to dominate large-scale copper and cobalt production in Congo.

This dominance has increasingly troubled US policymakers as strategic competition with China has expanded beyond trade into technology, energy transition and security.

Against this backdrop, the Orion CMC–Glencore transaction represents a shift from passive exposure to active positioning. The US is no longer relying solely on price signals or private balance sheets to secure minerals. Instead, it is using development finance institutions, diplomatic agreements and allied sovereign capital to gain upstream leverage.

Under the proposed structure, Orion CMC would acquire 40% of Glencore’s interests in Mutanda Mining and Kamoto Copper Company, two of Congo’s most significant copper-cobalt assets. Glencore would retain 60%, resulting in a jointly owned vehicle with an enterprise value estimated at around US$9 billion.

However, the headline valuation overstates the likely cash consideration. Glencore owns 70% of Kamoto and 95% of Mutanda, and both assets carry substantial mine-level debt.

As a result, Orion CMC’s actual outlay is expected to be significantly lower than 40% of enterprise value, potentially just over US$2 billion.

The structure also points to longer-term ambitions, the joint venture is not intended to function as a passive holding company , it could serve as a platform for further acquisitions across the Copperbelt, admit new investors  potentially from allied countries  and eventually seek a public listing. This would amount to the creation of a US-aligned mining vehicle focused explicitly on Africa.

Such a development would mark a departure from recent trends. Over the past decade, Western mining majors have generally reduced exposure to high-risk jurisdictions, often leaving Chinese firms as buyers of last resort. Orion CMC’s approach suggests that geopolitical considerations are now outweighing traditional risk aversion.

The deal also reflects a notable shift in Glencore’s relationship with the US government. In 2022, the company pleaded guilty to bribery charges and agreed to pay more than US$1 billion to resolve investigations by US, UK and Brazilian authorities. Some of the illicit payments related to officials in Congo. As part of the settlement, Glencore was placed under a US compliance monitoring programme.

That programme was terminated by the US Justice Department just ten months ago, earlier than expected, removing a major obstacle to engagement with US government-backed institutions. The timing is significant given Glencore’s parallel discussions with Rio Tinto over a potential merger.

While Rio’s interest is centred on South American copper assets, Glencore’s Congolese portfolio retains strategic appeal  particularly to governments rather than purely commercial buyers.

Any transaction involving Congo’s mining sector remains legally and politically complex. A key complication is Israeli businessman Dan Gertler, who is under US sanctions and receives royalty payments from both Mutanda and Kamoto in non-US currencies.

These issues underline the tension at the heart of the US strategy, securing access to strategic minerals while operating in jurisdictions where governance risks, legacy arrangements and political exposure are difficult to eliminate.

The diplomatic context is equally telling. The Orion CMC–Glencore agreement was announced a day before a ministerial-level meeting on critical minerals hosted by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

In December 2025, the US and the DRC signed a strategic minerals partnership aimed at attracting US investment and diluting Chinese dominance an agreement that helped accelerate negotiations, according to people close to the talks.

On the other hand, Orion CMC is also backing an effort by Virtus Minerals to acquire Chemaf SA, a cobalt producer that ran into financial difficulty while developing one of the world’s largest cobalt projects. Taken together, these moves suggest a deliberate attempt to build scale rather than pursue isolated investments.

US critical minerals, Africa mining, Congo copperbelt, cobalt supply chains, China US rivalry, Glencore, Orion CMC, resource geopolitics, strategic minerals, energy transition