The American company Virtus Minerals has acquired the Congolese cobalt and copper producer Chemaf, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, Jacob Helberg, stated on Tuesday.
The Congo is seeking to develop a mining partnership with Washington and has compiled a list of assets, including the Chemaf mines, to attract American investment into a sector long dominated by Chinese companies.
“The acquisition of the Chemaf mines in the DRC by the American company Virtus is excellent news for America and for the people of the DRC,” Helberg said in a post shared on X.
Virtus had previously announced that it reached an agreement to acquire Chemaf for approximately $30 million. Chemaf also carries $200 million in unsecured debt and $700 million in secured debt.
The deal had faced opposition from executives at the state-owned mining company Gécamines, prompting the Congo to remove them from their positions, Reuters reported last month.
While Chemaf is a private company and Gécamines holds no equity stake in it, the state-owned firm owns the lease for Chemaf’s mines. Consequently, no takeover bid for Chemaf can proceed without its consent.
The Wall Street Journal, which first broke the news Tuesday morning, reported that Virtus has also committed to raising approximately $720 million in investment.
By Ruchika Khanna
