KEY POINTS
- Congo will audit major miners every year from 2027 on their subcontracting and local-content compliance.
- A new local-content law takes effect Jan. 1, 2027, with sanctions and mandatory three-year compliance plans.
- Majority Congolese-owned firms won $3.1 billion of the $3.7 billion in subcontracts declared in 2025.
Democratic Republic of Congo will start auditing its biggest mining companies every year from 2027 to check how they use subcontractors and whether they follow local-content rules, the head of the country’s subcontracting regulator told Reuters.
The audits are part of a broader effort to send more contracts and procurement spending to Congolese-owned businesses. Congo is the world’s largest cobalt producer and Africa’s top copper producer, and it has been tightening oversight of the mining industry.
A new local-content law takes effect Jan. 1, 2027. Officials are drafting separate rules for mining and other industries, said Beleshayi Kasanda Ted, director general of the Authority for the Regulation of Subcontracting in the Private Sector, or ARSP. The rules will include sanctions and require companies to submit three-year compliance plans.
Big miners operating in Congo include Glencore, Ivanhoe Mines, Eurasian Resources Group and Chinese producers CMOC and Zijin.
Glencore, Ivanhoe Ordered to Fix Contracts
The regulator is already putting pressure on companies. This month ARSP ordered Glencore, Ivanhoe’s Kipushi zinc mine and Chinese-controlled copper miner Sicomines to end subcontracting arrangements that broke the rules. It also told them to submit plans to fix the problems and give more work to Congolese-owned suppliers.
An Ivanhoe spokesperson said the company is in regular contact with ARSP and believes Kipushi complies with the subcontracting rules. Glencore declined to comment, and Sicomines did not immediately respond.
Beleshayi said ARSP is hiring a new group of inspectors and reviewing old company inspections that were never resolved.
Congo Mining Rules Draw Mixed Reaction
Not everyone is sure the approach will work. Robert Malumba Kalombo, head of the Federation of Enterprises of Congo, the country’s largest private business group, warned that enforcement could focus too much on inspections and fines and not enough on helping Congolese companies become competitive.
Jean-Claud Mputu, a spokesperson for the nonprofit group Congo Is Not for Sale, called for more transparency about enforcement actions and for disclosure of who really owns subcontracting firms. Without stronger safeguards, he warned, tougher local-content rules could help politically connected companies win contracts.
The figures show local firms already get most of the work. Of the $3.7 billion in subcontracts that 167 major companies declared in 2025, $3.1 billion, or 83%, went to majority Congolese-owned businesses, Beleshayi said. Mining accounted for $2.9 billion of that.
