Mining Congo: A Global Power Play

Dionne Searcey and Eric Lipton📍Reporting from Democratic Republic of Congo

Ashley Gilbertson for The New York Times

The Democratic Republic of Congo has been a critical source of strategic minerals for the United States since at least World War II.

Here’s a short history →

Mining Congo: A Global Power Play

Dionne Searcey and Eric Lipton📍Reporting from Democratic Republic of Congo

No place in the world has such a rich supply of cobalt as southeastern Congo, home to the Tenke Fungurume mine, which was first targeted in 1908 by a Belgian geologist.

Mining Congo: A Global Power Play

Dionne Searcey and Eric Lipton📍Reporting from Democratic Republic of Congo

Albert Einstein told President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939 about Congo’s vital supply of high-grade uranium, which would later be used in the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

Mining Congo: A Global Power Play

Dionne Searcey and Eric Lipton📍Reporting from Democratic Republic of Congo

Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone, via Getty Images

For decades, the U.S. waged an intense competition with other nations for access to these mines, with President Richard Nixon promising Congo military planes and other support.

Mining Congo: A Global Power Play

Dionne Searcey and Eric Lipton📍Reporting from Democratic Republic of Congo

Loic-Marie Quentin/Gamma-Rapho, via Getty Images

Early efforts to build the Tenke Fungurume mine failed. Henry Kissinger helped craft a note to Congo’s president apologizing for the stalled project in the 1970s, even after U.S.-based investors had spent more than $250 million.

Mining Congo: A Global Power Play

Dionne Searcey and Eric Lipton📍Reporting from Democratic Republic of Congo

An American firm finally opened the mine in 2009 after a $3 billion effort. In recent years, it has sold its cobalt mines in Congo to a Chinese conglomerate, pushing the U.S. out of the race.