Democratic Republic of Congo\u2019s (DRC) mines inspectorate said this Monday it had created a paramilitary mining guard to secure mining sites and mineral supply chains, as the world\u2019s top cobalt producer tries to curb smuggling and insecurity in the sector and boost investor confidence.<\/p>\n
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The programme will be funded by a $100 million budget under strategic partnerships with the United States (US) and the United Arab Emirates, the General Inspectorate of Mines (IGM) said in a statement.<\/p>\n
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DRC, the world\u2019s second\u2011largest copper supplier with major reserves of lithium, coltan and gold, is battling a Rwanda\u2011backed rebellion in its mineral\u2011rich east that has killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands. Kinshasa last year signed a minerals partnership with the US to strengthen supply chains and security as Washington seeks to reduce China\u2019s dominance in critical minerals.<\/p>\n
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The IGM said the new unit will be gradually deployed across DRC\u2019s mining regions and is expected to reach more than 20,000 personnel by the end of 2028.<\/p>\n
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A first contingent of between 2 500 and 3 000 is due to be operational from December 2026, following recruitment and six months of training in collaboration with the military.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe will of the President of the Republic is to clean up the entire mining sector, by eliminating practices that run counter to good governance, transparency and the traceability of minerals,\u201d said Rafael Kabengele, the country\u2019s inspector general of mines.<\/p>\n
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Under the DRC\u2011US minerals partnership, Virtus took over copper-cobalt miner Chemaf while other Western firms have expressed interest in mining assets, including in rebel\u2011held areas where insecurity has previously disrupted operations.<\/p>\n
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The mining guard will take over security duties currently carried out by defence forces. Its mandate will include securing mine sites, escorting mineral shipments from extraction areas to processing facilities and border posts, and safeguarding investments, the statement said.<\/p>\n
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The initiative is expected to strengthen investor confidence and improve state oversight of mineral production, officials said.<\/p>\n
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–Reuters–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":33106,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-33105","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"DRC mines inspectorate said this Monday it had created a paramilitary mining guard","published_date":"2026-04-27 13:07:53","news_description":"DRC mines inspectorate said this Monday it had created a paramilitary mining guard","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33107,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33105\/revisions\/33107"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=33105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}