US Backs $1 Billion DRC Railway to Secure Copper and Cobalt Supply Amid China Rivalry

The United States is preparing to inject up to $1 billion into the rehabilitation of a strategic railway in the Democratic Republic of Congo, marking a major escalation in Washington's effort to secure critical minerals. The financing, advanced by the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), will back a 30-year concession for the Portuguese construction firm Mota-Engil to operate and upgrade the Congolese section of the Lobito Corridor.[1][2]

The roughly 1,000-kilometer rail network links the DRC’s mineral-rich Copperbelt—including major mining hubs like Kolwezi and Lubumbashi—directly to the Angolan port of Lobito on the Atlantic Ocean. By revitalizing this colonial-era transit route, the US and its European allies aim to create a high-capacity, westward-flowing export channel for copper and cobalt, bypassing the congested roads and eastward routes that currently dominate the region's logistics.[1][7]

The massive capital injection represents one of the largest single American infrastructure investments in Africa in decades. It serves as the flagship project of the G7’s Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, a framework explicitly designed to offer developing nations an alternative to China’s sprawling Belt and Road Initiative.[5][6]

At the heart of the initiative is a race for the raw materials required to power the global energy transition. Copper is essential for electric vehicle motors and wind turbines, while cobalt remains a critical component in high-density lithium-ion batteries. The DRC produces over 70 percent of the world's cobalt and is Africa's top copper producer, making its mining sector a focal point of global geopolitical competition.[1][5]

Currently, the vast majority of the DRC’s mineral output is processed by Chinese state-backed enterprises. Much of this material is trucked to ports in South Africa or Tanzania before being shipped across the Indian Ocean to refineries in China. Washington’s strategic objective is to physically reroute a portion of these minerals toward the Atlantic, granting American and European industries preferential access to the supply chain.[1][6]

Beijing has not remained passive in the face of the Western infrastructure push. Recognizing the threat to its supply lines, China recently committed its own $1 billion investment to modernize the TAZARA railway, a competing transit corridor that connects Zambia’s Copperbelt to the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam. This eastward route ensures that Central African minerals maintain a direct, efficient path to Chinese markets.[4]

The resulting dynamic has transformed Central Africa into a proxy battleground for infrastructure diplomacy. While Western planners frame the Lobito Corridor as a mechanism to break China's monopoly, the reality on the ground is more complex. Analysts note that even the copper currently moving along the Lobito line is largely bound for Chinese buyers, as Chinese firms own substantial stakes in the DRC's largest mines.[6]

For the African nations involved—Angola, the DRC, and Zambia—the superpower rivalry offers a rare opportunity to secure sweeping infrastructure upgrades without having to choose a definitive side. By practicing "poly-alignment," these corridor states are successfully leveraging Western capital to rebuild their railways while maintaining lucrative, long-standing commercial partnerships with Chinese mining conglomerates.[6]

The Mota-Engil consortium, known as the Lobito Atlantic Railway, also includes the Swiss commodities trader Trafigura and the Belgian rail operator Vecturis. The group was awarded the initial concession on the condition that it invests hundreds of millions of dollars into both Angolan and Congolese infrastructure, aiming to drastically reduce freight travel times and expand overall rail capacity.[2][7]

If the US financing package is finalized, it will cement Washington's shift from traditional aid-based diplomacy in Africa to aggressive, state-backed commercial competition. The success of the Lobito Corridor will ultimately test whether Western capital can effectively challenge China's deeply entrenched position in the global critical minerals supply chain.[1][3]