Truce in DR Congo offers US mining foothold while Chinese firms dominate output

3-MIN READ3-MIN1ListenPublished: 4:00pm, 28 Aug 2026A peace plan agreed between the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Rwanda-backed M23 movement last weekend could open the rebel-held Rubaya coltan deposit and other parts of mineral-rich eastern Congo to US investors.But observers say that even a lasting settlement would leave the United States far behind China, whose companies have spent decades building Mining assets, relationships and supply chains across the country.The peace road map followed five days of talks and set out steps and timelines for negotiations under a US-brokered framework reached last year. The two sides also agreed to establish a mechanism for investigating ceasefire violations, although parties remain divided over sanctions on M23, the release of detainees and the timing of political reforms.16:09How China is reshaping its economic ties with AfricaThe Expanded Joint Verification Mechanism Plus, or EJVM+, carried out its first ceasefire-monitoring mission in eastern Congo this week with support from the UN mission MONUSCO.