The chairman of the House Africa subcommittee, Representative John James of Michigan, introduced a bill requiring the creation of a US national strategy to secure supply chains of critical minerals from Democratic Republic of Congo.
The DRC produces about 70% of the world’s cobalt, an ingredient in electric vehicle batteries, and also has major deposits of copper, lithium, tantalum and germanium.
The dominance of Chinese companies in the extraction, processing and refining of these minerals “represents an economic and national security threat” that impacts energy independence and military preparedness, according to the draft bill.
The bill is co-sponsored by Jim Baird of Indiana, Young Kim of California, Thomas Kean Jr. of New Jersey and Cory Mills of Florida, all Republicans, like James.