Congo to approve Chemaf sale to US-backed Virtus

The Democratic Republic of Congo is reportedly ready to approve the sale of Chemaf to US-based Virtus Minerals, advancing a strategic minerals partnership between Washington and the African nation.

Congo’s mines minister, Louis Watum, notified Virtus last week that the government intends to clear the takeover, according to sources cited by Bloomberg News, marking a key step in a deal involving one of the country’s most contested mining assets. 

Chemaf, owner of the Mutoshi copper and cobalt project, put itself up for sale in 2023 after financial strain stalled development of what was planned as one of the world’s largest cobalt mines.

The transaction tests a broader US–Congo minerals agreement signed in December alongside a Washington-brokered peace deal between Congo and Rwanda, as the US seeks to reduce reliance on China for critical minerals. Congo has become central to that strategy given its vast reserves of copper, cobalt, lithium and tantalum, with the Chemaf process emerging as an early signal of how preferential access for US investors will work in practice.

Virtus agreed to acquire Chemaf’s equity for $30 million and plans to invest about $750 million to complete stalled projects, while assuming debts owed to creditors including Trafigura Group, whose $600 million loan in 2022 funded construction at Mutoshi and expansion at the Etoile operation. The company signed the purchase agreement in February with trustees representing roughly 95% of Chemaf’s shares, though Congolese law requires state approval for changes of control over mining permit holders.

Congo has wielded significant influence over the sale through state miner Gecamines, which holds a key permit leased by Chemaf for Mutoshi, after previously blocking a proposed deal with a Chinese state-backed firm. 

The acquisition is one of several projects underpinning the US–Congo pact, alongside Orion CMC’s preliminary deal to acquire stakes in Glencore’s (LON: GLEN) Congolese copper-cobalt mines and a proposed railway by Portugal’s Mota Engil SGPS linking the copperbelt to Angola’s Atlantic coast, highlighting a broader push to reshape supply chains for critical metals.