U.S. government-backed consortium Orion CMC is in the final stages of acquiring a 40% stake in Glencore’s Mutanda Mining and Kamoto Copper Company assets in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). [3, 4, 9] The mines have a total enterprise value of about $9 billion. [5, 6, 7] The parties first announced the deal as a non-binding agreement in February 2026. [5, 6, 7]
The acquisition is part of a U.S. and allied effort to secure copper and cobalt supplies, which are vital to the energy transition. [3, 6] The move also aims to counter China’s influence in the DRC’s mining sector, in a country that is the world’s largest source of cobalt. [8, 9] Glencore will continue to manage the mines after the deal closes. [5, 13]