Virtus agrees to buy Congo cobalt miner amid US pact

A firm headed by veterans of the US military and intelligence services has agreed to buy Chemaf SA, a troubled Congolese copper and cobalt producer that’s become a focal point in Washington’s efforts to shore up critical mineral supplies.

Virtus Minerals Inc. will pay an undisclosed sum for Chemaf and assume the firm’s liabilities, including debt owed to Trafigura Group, Managing Director Phil Braun told Bloomberg News on Thursday. The Delaware-registered company plans capital investments of $750 million, funded by debt and equity, he said on the sidelines of an event with Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi at the US Chamber of Commerce in Washington. 

Chemaf, which ran into financial difficulties while building what will be one of the world’s largest cobalt mines, has been up for sale since 2023. The firm, founded by the businessman Shiraz Virji, abandoned a deal with a Chinese state-owned company in March 2025 after the Democratic Republic of Congo withheld the necessary approvals.

The protracted sales process has come to symbolize the growing competition between Washington and Beijing for critical minerals in Congo. In December, the US and Congo signed a partnership giving American investors preferential access to some of the central African nation’s abundant resources. Chinese companies currently produce most of Congo’s copper and cobalt.

Virtus teamed up with Orion CMC – a new vehicle led by specialist financier Orion Resources Partners with backing from the state-owned US International Development Finance Corp. – to pursue the Chemaf deal. A spokesperson for Orion had no immediate comment.

The proposed acquisition of Chemaf is one of several projects that are foundational to the US-Congo pact, Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment Jacob Helberg said at the Chamber of Commerce event in Washington. He also cited Orion CMC’s preliminary deal announced this week to buy stakes in Glencore Plc’s Congolese copper-cobalt mines and a potential railway project by Portugal’s Mota Engil SGPS to connect Congo’s copperbelt to Angola’s Atlantic coast. 

“These are pivotal transactions the US government hopes to see completed quickly to provide positive signals to the rest of the private sector that the DRC is open for business,” Helberg said.

The price Virtus has agreed to pay for Chemaf shares is $30 million, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named discussing confidential information.

Virtus concluded its sales agreement with trustees in the Isle of Man representing almost 95% of Chemaf’s shares, the people familiar said. Chemaf Chairman Virji hasn’t signed it, they said, but a 2023 company report shows that he holds less than 0.01% of the shares in his own name.

Chemaf declined to comment.

India’s Lloyds Metals and Energy Ltd. – which mines iron ore in its home country and recently acquired a stake in a small copper-cobalt producer in Congo – is the operational partner for Virtus, Braun said. The joint venture will make an equity investment of $200 million, he added.

Lloyds Metals didn’t respond to an email from Bloomberg News requesting comment.

Read More: US-Backed Group to Buy Stake in Glencore’s Congo Mines

Virtus has received “incredible support” from the US government, Braun said. BTIG LLC and King & Spalding LLP are advising Virtus on the purchase, he said. 

The firm has also come to an agreement with Trafigura about settling its debt, Braun said, without providing details.

Trafigura arranged a $600 million loan for Chemaf in 2022 to fund the construction of its flagship Mutoshi mine and the expansion of the firm’s existing Etoile operations. Those projects subsequently stalled.

“We want to maintain a good, sound relationship with Trafigura,” Braun said. “They may be involved in this project going forward.”

Trafigura declined to comment.

The takeover by Virtus still requires approval from Congo’s government and state-owned miner Gecamines, which was lining up its own bid for Chemaf. Gecamines owns a key license that Chemaf leases for the Mutoshi project.

A number of other US, Congolese and Indian companies also submitted offers in recent months for Chemaf, which holds dozens of untapped mining permits.

(By Michael J. Kavanagh and William Clowes)