Virtus Minerals Inc., an American investment company, has reached an agreement to acquire Chemaf SA, a Congolese copper and cobalt producer, in order to strengthen the supply of critically important minerals to the United States. This is reported by foreign media with reference to Chairman of the Board Phil Brown.
As part of the deal, Virtus Minerals will assume Chemaf's debt obligations to Trafigura Group and invest $750 million using borrowed and own funds. Lloyds Metals and Energy Ltd., which recently acquired a stake in a small copper and cobalt producer in Congo, will contribute $200 million to Chemaf.
Earlier, the US administration insisted on the sale of Congolese copper and cobalt producer Chemaf to a consortium led by the American company Virtus Minerals Inc. with the participation of the American hedge fund Orion CMC, controlled by the US International Development Finance Corp., the Indian conglomerate Lloyds Metals, the Congolese company Buenassa and Global Critical Resources Corp.
Orion CMC has agreed to acquire stakes in Glencore Plc's Congolese copper and cobalt mines, as well as a railway project from the Portuguese company Mota Engil SGPS for the transportation of metals.
The protracted sale process has demonstrated increased competition between Washington and Beijing for the resources of critical minerals in the Congo. In December, the United States and Congo entered into a partnership that gives American investors priority access to the country's rich resources. At the moment, Chinese companies account for the bulk of copper and cobalt production in the Congo.
The deal with Virtus will receive approval from the Congolese government and the state-owned mining company Gecamines, which previously planned to acquire Chemaf independently, taking into account the rights to a key license for the development of the Mutoshi project.
Chemaf ran into financial problems during the construction of one of the world's largest cobalt mines and was put up for sale in 2023.
Trafigura became a key creditor after providing a loan of $600 million in 2022 for the modernization of the Etoile mine and the implementation of the Mutoshi project, which was designed to produce 16 thousand tons of cobalt and 50 thousand tons of copper per year.
Currently, Chemaf produces less than 20,000 tons of copper per year at the Etoile mine, which is a small fraction of the global volume. After completing the $300 million Mutoshi project expansion program, which will have to be funded by any new owner, the company can become one of the world's largest cobalt producers.
China's dominance in mineral supply chains has become a key factor in U.S. intervention in the sale of Chemaf Resources to China's Norin Mining, a subsidiary of Norinco, amid growing competition between the United States and China for control of minerals needed for infrastructure construction and defense technology development.
In December 2025, the United States and Congo signed an agreement granting American investors preferential access to some rich mineral reserves, including copper, tantalum, cobalt and lithium. The Congo has become an important element of the US administration's plans to weaken China's control over the supply chains of key minerals.
Congo provides about 75% of the world's cobalt production, used in electric vehicles and the defense industry. The Congolese government partially lifted the ban on cobalt exports from mid-October 2025 with the introduction of quotas at 97 thousand tons in 2026 and 2027.
Chemaf is a specialized company for the exploration, development and extraction of minerals in the Congo. Chemaf is developing the Etoile copper quarry and holds licenses for several deposits. The headquarters is located in Kinshasa (Congo).
Gecamines is a mining company and its associated mining complex in Katanga Province (Congo). With a length of up to 300 km and a width of 70 km, the complex is mainly used for mining copper and cobalt ores.
Virtus Resources is an American investment company founded by veterans of the American security and intelligence services. The headquarters is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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