AVZ Discussion 2022
- Thread starter GazDix
- Start date
Mute22
Regular
Good find cruiser!
KIKI KIENGE
@KiengeKki
La loi américaine "BRIDGE" sur le #lithium, cobalt, cuivre... de la RDC dans la lutte d'hégémonie USA et Chine sur les minerais critiques du Congo, sous l'inconscience des congolais et du Congo. La guerre des minerais congolais entre les USA et la Chine C'est une guerre qui se joue sur les richesses de la RDC entre les 2 grandes puissances du monde, mais sous les yeux des Congolais dans un mélange de corruption institutionnalisée et d'inconscience populaire suicidaire. Le corridor de Lobito pour les USA et le projet ferroviaire de Tazara en sont les expressions de ce bras de fer sur le contrôle des minerais stratégiques du Congo. La loi BRIDGE (Building Relationships and Increasing Democratic Governance through Engagement) to DRC Act votée par les 2 chambres américaines a pour objectif de créer une stratégie nationale pour sécuriser les chaînes d’approvisionnement des États-Unis impliquant des minéraux critiques provenant de la République démocratique du Congo (RDC). La Chine, entre corruption et contrats qui ne développent en réalité ni les sociaux des Congolais ni l’économie du pays, contrôle déjà plus de 70 % des minerais du Congo et presque indirectement la totalité de l'exploitation artisanale, exerçant ainsi une domination chinoise sur les chaînes d’approvisionnement mondiales en minéraux critiques, chose qui dérange sérieusement les intérêts des USA. « En tant que président de la sous-commission des affaires étrangères de la Chambre sur l’Afrique, je crois que l’augmentation de l’engagement avec la République démocratique du Congo (RDC) est d’un intérêt stratégique pour les États-Unis et nos alliés. Garantir un accès fiable et cohérent des États-Unis aux chaînes d’approvisionnement en minéraux critiques qui proviennent de la RDC est essentiel pour renforcer notre sécurité nationale. La loi BRIDGE to DRC contribuera à protéger nos chaînes d’approvisionnement en minéraux critiques de l’influence malveillante de la Chine et mettra en évidence à Kinshasa les critères spécifiques en matière de droits de l’homme et de démocratie nécessaires pour renforcer les relations bilatérales entre les États-Unis et la RDC, » avait déclaré le représentant américain James. Mais en RD Congo, tout cela semble se passer sur une autre planète que sur le sol hérité de leurs ancêtres et sur la peau de la pauvre population congolaise, par l'ignorance du peuple et par une mauvaise gestion institutionnelle. En 2025, le pays de Lumumba ne semble que subir la force des 2 puissances, comme il y a 65 ans sous la colonisation belge, fort malheureusement. On peut lire dans la déclaration de proposition de cette loi BRIDGE ; « Les minéraux critiques de la RDC sont nécessaires non seulement à la production industrielle américaine, mais aussi à des fins de sécurité nationale : ils sont essentiels pour les pièces d’avions de chasse, les munitions de précision et la technologie furtive. Actuellement, la Chine exploite 15 des 19 mines de cobalt produites en RDC, ce qui a créé une domination du Parti communiste chinois sur les chaînes d’approvisionnement mondiales en minéraux critiques, ce qui nuit directement aux intérêts stratégiques des États-Unis. En raison de cette réalité de la chaîne d’approvisionnement, et à l’approche des élections présidentielles cruciales prévues en RDC pour décembre 2023, il est impératif que les États-Unis intensifient leur engagement dans le pays. » Kiki #kienge
@Aldysheky
@kizpaka
@MinMinesRDC
@SuminwaJudith
@CybelleFuraha
Translated from French by
The American "BRIDGE" law on #lithium , cobalt, copper... of the DRC in the struggle for hegemony between the USA and China over the critical minerals of the Congo, under the unconsciousness of the Congolese and the Congo. The Congolese mineral war between the USA and China It is a war being played out over the wealth of the DRC between the two great powers of the world, but before the eyes of the Congolese in a mixture of institutionalized corruption and suicidal popular unconsciousness. The Lobito corridor for the USA and the Tazara railway project are expressions of this standoff over the control of strategic minerals in the Congo. The Building Relationships and Increasing Democratic Governance through Engagement (BRIDGE) to DRC Act, passed by both U.S. Houses, aims to create a national strategy to secure U.S. supply chains involving critical minerals from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). China, between corruption and contracts that do not actually develop the social welfare of the Congolese people or the country's economy, already controls more than 70% of the minerals in the Congo and almost indirectly all of the artisanal mining, thus exercising Chinese domination over the global supply chains of critical minerals, something that seriously disturbs US interests. “As Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, I believe that increasing engagement with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is in the strategic interest of the United States and our allies. Ensuring reliable and consistent U.S. access to critical mineral supply chains that originate in the DRC is essential to strengthening our national security. The BRIDGE to DRC Act will help protect our critical mineral supply chains from China’s malign influence and will highlight in Kinshasa the specific human rights and democracy benchmarks needed to strengthen the U.S.-DRC bilateral relationship,” said U.S. Representative James. But in the DR Congo, all this seems to be happening on another planet than on the soil inherited from their ancestors and on the skin of the poor Congolese population, due to the ignorance of the people and poor institutional management. In 2025, Lumumba's country only seems to be suffering the force of the 2 powers, as it did 65 years ago under Belgian colonization, very unfortunately. We can read in the statement of proposal of this BRIDGE law; “The DRC’s critical minerals are needed not only for U.S. industrial production, but also for national security purposes: they are essential for fighter jet parts, precision munitions, and stealth technology. Currently, China operates 15 of the 19 cobalt mines produced in the DRC, creating Chinese Communist Party dominance over global critical mineral supply chains that directly harm U.S. strategic interests. Given this supply chain reality, and with the DRC’s critical presidential elections scheduled for December 2023 approaching, it is imperative that the United States step up its engagement in the country.” Kiki #kienge
@Aldysheky
@kizpaka
@MinMinesRDC
@SuminwaJudith
@CybelleFuraha
"poor institutional management"
Very diplomatic!
Frank
Top 20
Embezzlement of funds at the BCC: Constant Mutamba instructs the public prosecutor to open an investigation
The Minister of State in charge of Justice and Keeper of the Seals, Constant Mutamba, gave, this Saturday, January 18, 2025, instructions to the public prosecutor at the Kinshasa/Gombe Court of Appeal to open a judicial investigation against those responsible for the embezzlement of public funds at the Central Bank of Congo (BCC), indicates an official press release.
This initiative follows a report sent to the Minister by the General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF), relating to the management of the issuing institution from 2018 to 2020.
This report highlighted an embezzlement of 315,612,000 US dollars, a sum resulting from tax advances granted to the Republic by the Société Générale des Carrières et des Mines (Gécamines), between 2012 and 2020.
The press release specifies that international arrest warrants have been issued against the incriminated individuals. These warrants have been sent to the judicial authorities of several countries in order to apprehend the suspects.
Minister Constant Mutamba also assured that arrests will be made, as of next week, against the persons involved who are on the national territory.
Below is the official press release
mediacongo
Elevate them from Mother Earth by their testicles, in the new soccer stadium in Kinshasa, free entry.
It is a better deterrent than hanging by their neck from one of Kazadi's light poles.
JAG
Top 20
Thanks for worrying about me Polok however there is really no need.
See, I think the difference between a keyboard warrior / lurker and me is…..most here have actually met me and know me.
All the best
Mute22
Regular
FINALLY an article, I'll shut up about journalists (except that one) now I promise 
www.19fortyfive.com
By
Michael Rubin
Published
47 seconds ago
President of the United States Donald Trump speaking with attendees at the 2019 Student Action Summit hosted by Turning Point USA at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. Image by Gage Skidmore.
Trump Must Back Australian Miners Against Chinese Strategic Metal Predation: President-elect Donald Trump approaches his second term much differently than his first.
No longer is his goal disruption, both the Republican party and the U.S. bureaucracy more broadly. Whereas Trump achieved victories by getting NATO members to pony up their dues and achieving the Abraham Accords breakthrough, his greatest legacy might have been achieving bipartisan recognition that China was less a peer competitor whose cooperation might moderate and more a threat to the rules-based order.
Whereas the Supreme Court debates TikTok and China’s ambitions to conquer Taiwan if not other Pacific islands, strategic minerals fuels China’s drive. Here, the Democratic Republic of Congo is ground zero. If it were not for Congo’s endemic corruption, it could be the Qatar of Africa: Geologists and economists estimate that Congo’s mineral wealth could top $24 trillion. The country is the world’s leading producer of cobalt, a metal necessary to produce the batteries upon which most 21st century electronic depend and is also one of the world’s leading producers of copper. Add into the mix: uranium, gold, Germanium, lithium, diamonds, nickel, tantalum, and tin, crude oil, and coffee.
While U.S. companies are late to the game in Congo and have missed opportunities through their own passivity to expand their presence in the market, companies from U.S. allies like Australia have been fighting for the 21st century on the frontlines in Africa.
The Australian mining sector is huge. The skyscrapers of Perth shine with mining wealth, and the sector dominates West Australia’s economy and contributes to the country’s broader economy. Because China was one of the Australian mining largest markets, Australian politicians like former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd long frustrated their American counterparts with their permissiveness toward China.
Canberra, like Washington, may have been slow to gauge Beijing’s threat correctly, but many Australians have now learned the lesson. As China seeks to bribe and coerce Congo through illicit means to push Australian firms out of Congo’s mining sector, the Trump administration must defend Australia’s interests both diplomatically and with economic sanctions on Chinese firms. The logic of the Lobito corridor is to direct African trade westward into the Atlantic basin in order to better orient African trade away from China.
China, however, is fighting dirty to hamper Australian mining in Africa. Consider the case of AVZ Minerals, an Australian firm seeking to extract lithium and tin from Manono in southern Congo. Exploratory digging shows the lithium deposits in the region are huge. Colloquially, AVZ hit the motherlode.
But Congolese corruption, abetted by the People’s Republic of China, seek to deny them their contractual right. AVZ now has International Court of Arbitration cases pending before involving La Congolaise d’Exploitation Minière, Jin Cheng Mining Company, and Dathomir Mining Resources SARLU, and International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes against the Democratic Republic of Congo itself.
While AVZ does not seek to marginalize China entirely—economically it makes no sense for them to do so—they seek balance between East and West. China, however, rejects balance in favor of its own maximalist approach. It has corrupted at least 13 Congolese media outlets. Ten of millions of dollars held in escrow disappeared, a theft in which Chinese officials appear complicit. The Congolese government proceeded to arrest journalists pursuing the story. A March 2022 forensic investigation based on AVZ and Congolese documents showed hard evidence of Chinese bribery. Chinese mining interests fund “non-governmental organizations” whose sole purpose appears to be to undermine Australia’s interest. Congolese public companies also sold shares to Chinese firms at fire sale prices in contravention of the law in a scheme to quadruple personal profits for Congolese officials up to and including the prime minister.
Zijin and the Congolese government’s strategy appears to be economic attrition, to steal and filibuster until AVZ has no choice but to suspend operations and give up. Zijin’s latest strategy appears to be to stop paying arbitration costs in the hope the court ceases its work.
AVZ is just one case among many that exposes how Chinese interests leverage Congo’s corruption to try to corner the market in strategic metals. The nature of the U.S. intelligence, national security, and diplomatic bureaucracy is compartmentalized. Analysts spent their careers focused on the weeds, never getting to the trees let alone spotting the forest. While the National Security Council is supposed to coordinate, it seldom effectively pieces together disparate problems, especially when they span bureaucracies let alone continents.
Rather than just chalk up AVZ’s difficulties extracting lithium and tin from Congo, it is important to understand how Beijing takes a “whole of government” approach to harass and cheat competitors, and the general shenanigans in which they engage. Americans increasingly throw around the phrase “fake news” to discredit anything with which they disagree, the Congo dispute shows how China wholesale purchases and promotes fake stories in pursuit of its commercial monopolies and strategic interests.
If Trump seeks to counter China, it is essential he recognize the battle will not only be in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait, but also in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s forests and mines, international arbitration courts, and the boardrooms of Australia.
Incoming Secretary of State Marco Rubio should direct diplomats in Kinshasa to spend more time in southern Congo where the action is. Rather than report on just another lunch with one cabinet minister or another, they should track their incomes and show up in various court proceedings to signal that Congo’s corruption will not proceed in the dark.
Australia might be on the frontline, but both the U.S. Departments of State and Commerce should signal that they see no even playing field; they will support allies and expect allied governments to support their own firms in the battle against Beijing’s interests.
If Beijing operates with such granularity, Trump, Rubio, and every other principal in the incoming U.S. administration must ask why the United States should not do so as well.
Donald Trump Must Back Australia in the Fight for Strategic Metals
China is leveraging Congo’s corruption to dominate strategic metals vital for the global economy. Trump must support Australia’s mining efforts to counter Beijing.
www.19fortyfive.com
Trillions - 19FortyFive
Donald Trump Must Back Australia in the Fight for Strategic Metals
By
Michael Rubin
Published
47 seconds ago
President of the United States Donald Trump speaking with attendees at the 2019 Student Action Summit hosted by Turning Point USA at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. Image by Gage Skidmore.
Trump Must Back Australian Miners Against Chinese Strategic Metal Predation: President-elect Donald Trump approaches his second term much differently than his first.
No longer is his goal disruption, both the Republican party and the U.S. bureaucracy more broadly. Whereas Trump achieved victories by getting NATO members to pony up their dues and achieving the Abraham Accords breakthrough, his greatest legacy might have been achieving bipartisan recognition that China was less a peer competitor whose cooperation might moderate and more a threat to the rules-based order.
Whereas the Supreme Court debates TikTok and China’s ambitions to conquer Taiwan if not other Pacific islands, strategic minerals fuels China’s drive. Here, the Democratic Republic of Congo is ground zero. If it were not for Congo’s endemic corruption, it could be the Qatar of Africa: Geologists and economists estimate that Congo’s mineral wealth could top $24 trillion. The country is the world’s leading producer of cobalt, a metal necessary to produce the batteries upon which most 21st century electronic depend and is also one of the world’s leading producers of copper. Add into the mix: uranium, gold, Germanium, lithium, diamonds, nickel, tantalum, and tin, crude oil, and coffee.
While U.S. companies are late to the game in Congo and have missed opportunities through their own passivity to expand their presence in the market, companies from U.S. allies like Australia have been fighting for the 21st century on the frontlines in Africa.
The Australian mining sector is huge. The skyscrapers of Perth shine with mining wealth, and the sector dominates West Australia’s economy and contributes to the country’s broader economy. Because China was one of the Australian mining largest markets, Australian politicians like former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd long frustrated their American counterparts with their permissiveness toward China.
Canberra, like Washington, may have been slow to gauge Beijing’s threat correctly, but many Australians have now learned the lesson. As China seeks to bribe and coerce Congo through illicit means to push Australian firms out of Congo’s mining sector, the Trump administration must defend Australia’s interests both diplomatically and with economic sanctions on Chinese firms. The logic of the Lobito corridor is to direct African trade westward into the Atlantic basin in order to better orient African trade away from China.
China, however, is fighting dirty to hamper Australian mining in Africa. Consider the case of AVZ Minerals, an Australian firm seeking to extract lithium and tin from Manono in southern Congo. Exploratory digging shows the lithium deposits in the region are huge. Colloquially, AVZ hit the motherlode.
But Congolese corruption, abetted by the People’s Republic of China, seek to deny them their contractual right. AVZ now has International Court of Arbitration cases pending before involving La Congolaise d’Exploitation Minière, Jin Cheng Mining Company, and Dathomir Mining Resources SARLU, and International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes against the Democratic Republic of Congo itself.
While AVZ does not seek to marginalize China entirely—economically it makes no sense for them to do so—they seek balance between East and West. China, however, rejects balance in favor of its own maximalist approach. It has corrupted at least 13 Congolese media outlets. Ten of millions of dollars held in escrow disappeared, a theft in which Chinese officials appear complicit. The Congolese government proceeded to arrest journalists pursuing the story. A March 2022 forensic investigation based on AVZ and Congolese documents showed hard evidence of Chinese bribery. Chinese mining interests fund “non-governmental organizations” whose sole purpose appears to be to undermine Australia’s interest. Congolese public companies also sold shares to Chinese firms at fire sale prices in contravention of the law in a scheme to quadruple personal profits for Congolese officials up to and including the prime minister.
Zijin and the Congolese government’s strategy appears to be economic attrition, to steal and filibuster until AVZ has no choice but to suspend operations and give up. Zijin’s latest strategy appears to be to stop paying arbitration costs in the hope the court ceases its work.
AVZ is just one case among many that exposes how Chinese interests leverage Congo’s corruption to try to corner the market in strategic metals. The nature of the U.S. intelligence, national security, and diplomatic bureaucracy is compartmentalized. Analysts spent their careers focused on the weeds, never getting to the trees let alone spotting the forest. While the National Security Council is supposed to coordinate, it seldom effectively pieces together disparate problems, especially when they span bureaucracies let alone continents.
Rather than just chalk up AVZ’s difficulties extracting lithium and tin from Congo, it is important to understand how Beijing takes a “whole of government” approach to harass and cheat competitors, and the general shenanigans in which they engage. Americans increasingly throw around the phrase “fake news” to discredit anything with which they disagree, the Congo dispute shows how China wholesale purchases and promotes fake stories in pursuit of its commercial monopolies and strategic interests.
If Trump seeks to counter China, it is essential he recognize the battle will not only be in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait, but also in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s forests and mines, international arbitration courts, and the boardrooms of Australia.
Incoming Secretary of State Marco Rubio should direct diplomats in Kinshasa to spend more time in southern Congo where the action is. Rather than report on just another lunch with one cabinet minister or another, they should track their incomes and show up in various court proceedings to signal that Congo’s corruption will not proceed in the dark.
Australia might be on the frontline, but both the U.S. Departments of State and Commerce should signal that they see no even playing field; they will support allies and expect allied governments to support their own firms in the battle against Beijing’s interests.
If Beijing operates with such granularity, Trump, Rubio, and every other principal in the incoming U.S. administration must ask why the United States should not do so as well.
Journalist :"Michael Rubin is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He previously worked as an official at the Pentagon."FINALLY an article, I'll shut up about journalists (except that one) now I promise
Donald Trump Must Back Australia in the Fight for Strategic Metals
China is leveraging Congo’s corruption to dominate strategic metals vital for the global economy. Trump must support Australia’s mining efforts to counter Beijing.
Trillions - 19FortyFive
Donald Trump Must Back Australia in the Fight for Strategic Metals
By
Michael Rubin
Published
47 seconds ago
President of the United States Donald Trump speaking with attendees at the 2019 Student Action Summit hosted by Turning Point USA at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. Image by Gage Skidmore.
Trump Must Back Australian Miners Against Chinese Strategic Metal Predation: President-elect Donald Trump approaches his second term much differently than his first.
No longer is his goal disruption, both the Republican party and the U.S. bureaucracy more broadly. Whereas Trump achieved victories by getting NATO members to pony up their dues and achieving the Abraham Accords breakthrough, his greatest legacy might have been achieving bipartisan recognition that China was less a peer competitor whose cooperation might moderate and more a threat to the rules-based order.
Whereas the Supreme Court debates TikTok and China’s ambitions to conquer Taiwan if not other Pacific islands, strategic minerals fuels China’s drive. Here, the Democratic Republic of Congo is ground zero. If it were not for Congo’s endemic corruption, it could be the Qatar of Africa: Geologists and economists estimate that Congo’s mineral wealth could top $24 trillion. The country is the world’s leading producer of cobalt, a metal necessary to produce the batteries upon which most 21st century electronic depend and is also one of the world’s leading producers of copper. Add into the mix: uranium, gold, Germanium, lithium, diamonds, nickel, tantalum, and tin, crude oil, and coffee.
While U.S. companies are late to the game in Congo and have missed opportunities through their own passivity to expand their presence in the market, companies from U.S. allies like Australia have been fighting for the 21st century on the frontlines in Africa.
The Australian mining sector is huge. The skyscrapers of Perth shine with mining wealth, and the sector dominates West Australia’s economy and contributes to the country’s broader economy. Because China was one of the Australian mining largest markets, Australian politicians like former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd long frustrated their American counterparts with their permissiveness toward China.
Canberra, like Washington, may have been slow to gauge Beijing’s threat correctly, but many Australians have now learned the lesson. As China seeks to bribe and coerce Congo through illicit means to push Australian firms out of Congo’s mining sector, the Trump administration must defend Australia’s interests both diplomatically and with economic sanctions on Chinese firms. The logic of the Lobito corridor is to direct African trade westward into the Atlantic basin in order to better orient African trade away from China.
China, however, is fighting dirty to hamper Australian mining in Africa. Consider the case of AVZ Minerals, an Australian firm seeking to extract lithium and tin from Manono in southern Congo. Exploratory digging shows the lithium deposits in the region are huge. Colloquially, AVZ hit the motherlode.
But Congolese corruption, abetted by the People’s Republic of China, seek to deny them their contractual right. AVZ now has International Court of Arbitration cases pending before involving La Congolaise d’Exploitation Minière, Jin Cheng Mining Company, and Dathomir Mining Resources SARLU, and International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes against the Democratic Republic of Congo itself.
While AVZ does not seek to marginalize China entirely—economically it makes no sense for them to do so—they seek balance between East and West. China, however, rejects balance in favor of its own maximalist approach. It has corrupted at least 13 Congolese media outlets. Ten of millions of dollars held in escrow disappeared, a theft in which Chinese officials appear complicit. The Congolese government proceeded to arrest journalists pursuing the story. A March 2022 forensic investigation based on AVZ and Congolese documents showed hard evidence of Chinese bribery. Chinese mining interests fund “non-governmental organizations” whose sole purpose appears to be to undermine Australia’s interest. Congolese public companies also sold shares to Chinese firms at fire sale prices in contravention of the law in a scheme to quadruple personal profits for Congolese officials up to and including the prime minister.
Zijin and the Congolese government’s strategy appears to be economic attrition, to steal and filibuster until AVZ has no choice but to suspend operations and give up. Zijin’s latest strategy appears to be to stop paying arbitration costs in the hope the court ceases its work.
AVZ is just one case among many that exposes how Chinese interests leverage Congo’s corruption to try to corner the market in strategic metals. The nature of the U.S. intelligence, national security, and diplomatic bureaucracy is compartmentalized. Analysts spent their careers focused on the weeds, never getting to the trees let alone spotting the forest. While the National Security Council is supposed to coordinate, it seldom effectively pieces together disparate problems, especially when they span bureaucracies let alone continents.
Rather than just chalk up AVZ’s difficulties extracting lithium and tin from Congo, it is important to understand how Beijing takes a “whole of government” approach to harass and cheat competitors, and the general shenanigans in which they engage. Americans increasingly throw around the phrase “fake news” to discredit anything with which they disagree, the Congo dispute shows how China wholesale purchases and promotes fake stories in pursuit of its commercial monopolies and strategic interests.
If Trump seeks to counter China, it is essential he recognize the battle will not only be in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait, but also in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s forests and mines, international arbitration courts, and the boardrooms of Australia.
Incoming Secretary of State Marco Rubio should direct diplomats in Kinshasa to spend more time in southern Congo where the action is. Rather than report on just another lunch with one cabinet minister or another, they should track their incomes and show up in various court proceedings to signal that Congo’s corruption will not proceed in the dark.
Australia might be on the frontline, but both the U.S. Departments of State and Commerce should signal that they see no even playing field; they will support allies and expect allied governments to support their own firms in the battle against Beijing’s interests.
If Beijing operates with such granularity, Trump, Rubio, and every other principal in the incoming U.S. administration must ask why the United States should not do so as well.
Hemicuda
Regular
interesting read given his cv, finally some pro AVZ mediaFINALLY an article, I'll shut up about journalists (except that one) now I promise
Donald Trump Must Back Australia in the Fight for Strategic Metals
China is leveraging Congo’s corruption to dominate strategic metals vital for the global economy. Trump must support Australia’s mining efforts to counter Beijing.
Trillions - 19FortyFive
Donald Trump Must Back Australia in the Fight for Strategic Metals
By
Michael Rubin
Published
47 seconds ago
President of the United States Donald Trump speaking with attendees at the 2019 Student Action Summit hosted by Turning Point USA at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. Image by Gage Skidmore.
Trump Must Back Australian Miners Against Chinese Strategic Metal Predation: President-elect Donald Trump approaches his second term much differently than his first.
No longer is his goal disruption, both the Republican party and the U.S. bureaucracy more broadly. Whereas Trump achieved victories by getting NATO members to pony up their dues and achieving the Abraham Accords breakthrough, his greatest legacy might have been achieving bipartisan recognition that China was less a peer competitor whose cooperation might moderate and more a threat to the rules-based order.
Whereas the Supreme Court debates TikTok and China’s ambitions to conquer Taiwan if not other Pacific islands, strategic minerals fuels China’s drive. Here, the Democratic Republic of Congo is ground zero. If it were not for Congo’s endemic corruption, it could be the Qatar of Africa: Geologists and economists estimate that Congo’s mineral wealth could top $24 trillion. The country is the world’s leading producer of cobalt, a metal necessary to produce the batteries upon which most 21st century electronic depend and is also one of the world’s leading producers of copper. Add into the mix: uranium, gold, Germanium, lithium, diamonds, nickel, tantalum, and tin, crude oil, and coffee.
While U.S. companies are late to the game in Congo and have missed opportunities through their own passivity to expand their presence in the market, companies from U.S. allies like Australia have been fighting for the 21st century on the frontlines in Africa.
The Australian mining sector is huge. The skyscrapers of Perth shine with mining wealth, and the sector dominates West Australia’s economy and contributes to the country’s broader economy. Because China was one of the Australian mining largest markets, Australian politicians like former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd long frustrated their American counterparts with their permissiveness toward China.
Canberra, like Washington, may have been slow to gauge Beijing’s threat correctly, but many Australians have now learned the lesson. As China seeks to bribe and coerce Congo through illicit means to push Australian firms out of Congo’s mining sector, the Trump administration must defend Australia’s interests both diplomatically and with economic sanctions on Chinese firms. The logic of the Lobito corridor is to direct African trade westward into the Atlantic basin in order to better orient African trade away from China.
China, however, is fighting dirty to hamper Australian mining in Africa. Consider the case of AVZ Minerals, an Australian firm seeking to extract lithium and tin from Manono in southern Congo. Exploratory digging shows the lithium deposits in the region are huge. Colloquially, AVZ hit the motherlode.
But Congolese corruption, abetted by the People’s Republic of China, seek to deny them their contractual right. AVZ now has International Court of Arbitration cases pending before involving La Congolaise d’Exploitation Minière, Jin Cheng Mining Company, and Dathomir Mining Resources SARLU, and International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes against the Democratic Republic of Congo itself.
While AVZ does not seek to marginalize China entirely—economically it makes no sense for them to do so—they seek balance between East and West. China, however, rejects balance in favor of its own maximalist approach. It has corrupted at least 13 Congolese media outlets. Ten of millions of dollars held in escrow disappeared, a theft in which Chinese officials appear complicit. The Congolese government proceeded to arrest journalists pursuing the story. A March 2022 forensic investigation based on AVZ and Congolese documents showed hard evidence of Chinese bribery. Chinese mining interests fund “non-governmental organizations” whose sole purpose appears to be to undermine Australia’s interest. Congolese public companies also sold shares to Chinese firms at fire sale prices in contravention of the law in a scheme to quadruple personal profits for Congolese officials up to and including the prime minister.
Zijin and the Congolese government’s strategy appears to be economic attrition, to steal and filibuster until AVZ has no choice but to suspend operations and give up. Zijin’s latest strategy appears to be to stop paying arbitration costs in the hope the court ceases its work.
AVZ is just one case among many that exposes how Chinese interests leverage Congo’s corruption to try to corner the market in strategic metals. The nature of the U.S. intelligence, national security, and diplomatic bureaucracy is compartmentalized. Analysts spent their careers focused on the weeds, never getting to the trees let alone spotting the forest. While the National Security Council is supposed to coordinate, it seldom effectively pieces together disparate problems, especially when they span bureaucracies let alone continents.
Rather than just chalk up AVZ’s difficulties extracting lithium and tin from Congo, it is important to understand how Beijing takes a “whole of government” approach to harass and cheat competitors, and the general shenanigans in which they engage. Americans increasingly throw around the phrase “fake news” to discredit anything with which they disagree, the Congo dispute shows how China wholesale purchases and promotes fake stories in pursuit of its commercial monopolies and strategic interests.
If Trump seeks to counter China, it is essential he recognize the battle will not only be in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait, but also in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s forests and mines, international arbitration courts, and the boardrooms of Australia.
Incoming Secretary of State Marco Rubio should direct diplomats in Kinshasa to spend more time in southern Congo where the action is. Rather than report on just another lunch with one cabinet minister or another, they should track their incomes and show up in various court proceedings to signal that Congo’s corruption will not proceed in the dark.
Australia might be on the frontline, but both the U.S. Departments of State and Commerce should signal that they see no even playing field; they will support allies and expect allied governments to support their own firms in the battle against Beijing’s interests.
If Beijing operates with such granularity, Trump, Rubio, and every other principal in the incoming U.S. administration must ask why the United States should not do so as well.
lets gooooo!!!!
Winenut
Go AVZ!
Hey Tommy fuckface
Have a read of the article by Michael Rubin
It's a really good benchmark that clearly shows exactly what an absolutely fucking useless piece of shit so-called journalist fucking flog you are
Here's a reminder for everyone in case you forgot what a smug fucktard Tommy is.....
Have a read of the article by Michael Rubin
It's a really good benchmark that clearly shows exactly what an absolutely fucking useless piece of shit so-called journalist fucking flog you are
Here's a reminder for everyone in case you forgot what a smug fucktard Tommy is.....
Samus
Top 20
Look at that smug cunt!
He must have just jumped out of bed with boatman and a couple of zijin ladyboys before the photo.
Thanks for ruining my day with that mental image Wino!
The US would have the ability to apply pressure by restricting jthe Lobito Corridor and Tanzania Portinteresting read given his cv, finally some pro AVZ media
It is CATL / CATH and the influence they have to obtain a mining licence with AVZ that is very positive .
Surely they can influence mainland China to tell ZIjin stop blocking Manono ??
Frank
Top 20
This is what a real journalist looks like below, Definitely Not some smug arse Shit for Brains Flog from the AFR !!!
Who actually did his research and wrote an excellent article without bias and someone who has a very impressive CV
Unlike some Clowns who just pretend to be a Journo ( Tommy the Turd )
x.com
x.com
Last edited:
Ashlee
Regular
If Trump is serious about China, he can’t ignore Africa - Washington Examiner
Donald Trump must pay greater attention to African nations such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo if he wants to pare back China's hostile influence.
www.washingtonexaminer.com
Frank
Top 20
Africa has been a backwater for too long. Those days are over.If Trump is serious about China, he can’t ignore Africa - Washington Examiner
Donald Trump must pay greater attention to African nations such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo if he wants to pare back China's hostile influence.
To cede Africa to China is to guarantee Chinese industries can hobble their American counterparts and to ensure the Chinese military has the material to seize a qualitative military edge over the U.S.
“Shithole” countries or not, America’s future depends on what Trump’s team does in Africa.
Last edited:
Mr Inappropriate
Regular
The flies are bad atm.
Similar threads
