November 11, 2026
5 developments
Chinese processing pledges reach $16.3bn but technology transfer lags
A Development Reimagined report tracking FOCAC 2024 pledges finds $41.2 billion announced across 32 Chinese mining projects in 15 African countries between September 2024 and June 2026, of which $16.3 billion (39.6%) sits in 19 projects with local processing or manufacturing; it also finds little evidence that technology transfer has followed the capital (SCMP, Ecofin Agency).
Kinshasa tells Washington to convert mineral access into delivered projects
At the second DRC–US Joint Steering Committee meeting in Paris on 5 November, Vice-Prime Minister Daniel Mukoko Samba demanded a move "from signed agreements to real investments", and the joint statement disclosed no new US financing despite welcoming the Dilolo–Sakania rail concession (Pan African Visions).
Lobito's Congolese section has not broken ground despite $2.7bn pledged
Mota-Engil Africa's August concession covers the 1,000km Dilolo–Sakania line through Tenke, Lubumbashi and Kolwezi, but construction has not begun and residents along the track say they have not been consulted about relocation (China-Global South Project).
Analysts argue Western strategy is aimed at the wrong link in the chain
A German Marshall Fund paper contends China's leverage lies in refining rather than mine ownership, and that Zimbabwe's first domestic lithium sulphate came from a Huayou-owned plant, so beneficiation rules entrenched Chinese firms instead of displacing them (German Marshall Fund).
KoBold says clearance delays could cost it a year in the DRC
The US explorer told the State Department in September that China could use a UN process to obstruct its $50 million lithium survey, with a pending exemption for aerial equipment threatening the dry-season flying window; Beijing rejected the allegation (Business Insider Africa).