Overview
- The General Inspectorate of Mines announced a $100 million program to raise a centrally run mining guard with 2,500 to 3,000 recruits expected to be ready by December after six months of training.
- The new force is tasked with securing mine sites, escorting mineral shipments, enforcing traceable transport, and replacing police and other security units now operating in mining zones.
- Officials said the initiative has US and United Arab Emirates backing, though they did not disclose whether the funds come from governments or private sources or who the providers are.
- Plans call for a buildout to about 20,000 personnel nationwide by 2028, with the first deployments in the copper- and cobalt-rich Katanga region.
- Congo supplies much of the world’s cobalt and relies on widespread artisanal mining, so tighter security and tracking could change daily conditions for small-scale diggers and the flow of key battery minerals.