\u00a9 Thomas Hicks Jr.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nBoth Washington and Kinshasa have expressed hope that any deals that flow will also dilute Chinese dominance in what is Africa\u2019s richest store of minerals. DR Congo accounts for about 70 per cent of the world\u2019s cobalt, as well as some of the continent\u2019s largest reserves of gold, copper, coltan, tin and diamonds.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the US stepped in, they wanted to frame their approach to a peace settlement differently than in the past,\u201d said one regional participant in the plans, on condition of anonymity. \u201cThey were looking at what the business and economic side of the deal would be that allows this region to prosper, so we don\u2019t get back into this all over.\u201d <\/p>\n
Beach, a former hedge fund manager and long-standing college friend of Trump\u2019s son Donald Jr, has experience in DR Congo dating back to a previous 2004 mining venture. Beach was also involved in ventures in the DR Congo with the late Congo-born basketball legend Dikembe Mutombo.<\/p>\n
Although Donald Jr and Beach are old college friends, the president\u2019s son has no involvement in Beach\u2019s business ventures, according to a person close to Donald Jr.<\/p>\n
America First Global, which declined to comment, is part of a consortium including the Swiss commodities group Mercuria, that hopes to develop the mine in a joint venture with Congolese state miner Sakima. Mercuria \u2014 which also did not comment \u2014 would buy offtake from the mine, which according to people involved could require in excess of $500mn in investment.<\/p>\n
\u201cRubaya is an important part of the peace process\u2009.\u2009.\u2009. We hope to dramatically expand it, reorganise it, and make it a world class example of how to do mining,\u201d one participant of the consortium said. \u00a0<\/p>\n
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
Prospects for peace remain precarious and it is still unclear how, were Rwanda to end its part in the conflict, the M23 rebels they have backed will be persuaded to withdraw from the swaths of territory they control, or to relinquish cash cows such as Rubaya.<\/p>\n
But representatives from DR Congo and Rwanda last week endorsed a draft agreement to end the conflict, which dates back to the aftermath of the 1994 genocide in neighbouring Rwanda when millions of refugees fled across the border.<\/p>\n
Foreign ministers from both countries are due to sign the agreement on Friday in Washington in what Trump has hailed on Truth Social as \u201cA Great Day for Africa and a Great Day for the World\u201d.<\/p>\n
The US International Development Finance Corporation, the private sector development-lending organisation set up by Trump during his first term, may support some of the US investments as part of a separate strategic minerals agreement with DR Congo, officials have said.<\/p>\n
This economic component of the settlement \u2014 designed to herald US investment in cobalt, copper and lithium mines, as well as infrastructure \u2014 is still some way off, according to people familiar with the talks. DFC did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
Rubaya has become synonymous with hellish conditions and the plunder of DR Congo\u2019s riches by its neighbours.<\/p>\n
It has been controlled by different militias as the 30-year conflict has ebbed and flowed, with its output frequently smuggled on to international markets through Rwanda and Uganda, according to reports by UN experts.<\/p>\n
Longer term, some of the coltan mined at the site would be exported legally through Rwanda and processed for export at a new smelter in Kigali. The smelter would be built by a separate consortium made up of Mercuria, Beach\u2019s America First Global and Rwandan state investor Ngali Holdings, according to people familiar with the negotiations.<\/p>\n
Some regional experts remain sceptical about the plans, given the central role Rubaya has played in fuelling conflict. But one person familiar with the matter argued that the deal would be \u201call about business building the bridges\u201d.<\/p>\n
Additional reporting by Alex Rogers and Guy Chazan<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
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