African mining circle March 29 news: On March 28, Bloomberg exposed that Rio Tinto Group is secretly negotiating with the government of Congo (Democratic Republic of Congo) to develop the world's largest hard rock lithium deposit Roche Dure. The super-deposit, which could meet the world's demand for two years, happens to be located in North Kivu province, where Rwandan rebels are active - and which is the intelligence hub for the United States' Africa Command. Roche Dure is one of the largest hard rock lithium deposits in the world. The fate of Roche Dure is a microcosm of Africa's resource development history: in 2013, AVZ, an Australian company, discovered lithium deposits, and the Congolese government charged $200 million in "exploration fees" but was never heard from. 2021: Rio Tinto's first bid is rejected, and it buys Canada's Lithium instead. 2023: Congo abruptly revokes AVZ mining rights, and the country's central bank's foreign exchange reserves increase by $3.7 billion during the same period; 2025: State Department officials come to the mine with a new proposal for "counterterrorism cooperation." Every time the international lithium price moves 30 percent, a new conflict breaks out here." Olivier Kabongo, an independent analyst, said 12 militias armed with US-made weapons had emerged within a 50km radius of the mine. Neither Rio Tinto nor the DRC's mining ministry has commented on the report. Meanwhile, Congo is also in preliminary discussions with the US government on a potential "minerals for security" deal to support the fight against a Rwandan-backed insurgency in its eastern provinces. In a "minerals for security" deal with the Congolese government, the Pentagon offered to exchange parts for F-35 fighter jets for preferential procurement rights for lithium ores.
