Kinshasa, October 13th, 2026 (CPA).- A proposed law on the local processing and development of mineral resource supply chains in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was declared admissible on Monday during a plenary session of the National Assembly in Kinshasa, the capital. “In view of the majority of votes recorded, the National Assembly declares admissible the draft bill on local processing and the development of mineral supply chains tabled by MP Thierry Mulumba,” has said Boji Sangara, President of the National Assembly. “We are referring it to the Joint Committee on Economy and Finance (Ecofin) for in-depth examination (…) A period of 10 days is granted for the establishment of this committee,” he has added. According to the sponsor of this bill, known as the ‘Mpandanjila Act’, mineral resources will only become a significant asset if DRC develops its local industries.
“Mineral resources will only become a significant asset if DRC develops its local industries (…) From the mine to industry, with the Mpandanjila Bill, the DRC is committing to the local processing of minerals and integration into global value chains,” he has stated.
Filling a legal vacuum
This draft bill, its sponsor explained, provides a regulatory framework for a sector that had previously existed in a legal vacuum. “This is a new law that regulates the industrial processing sector – a sector that was previously unregulated because the Mining Code only covers extraction up to a certain point. However, from extraction through to the production of finished goods and recycling, there was absolutely no legislation in this area, and this is what we have done to fill that gap,”the MP has continued. He has emphasised that the advantage is that the country will benefit from the creation of local added value. “We all say that DRC is a country immensely rich in natural resources, but that, unfortunately, the population remains poor because very little is generated, very little is created in terms of gross domestic product and so on,” he has said. “The advantage is that this bill promotes the country’s industrialisation, which, in the case of mining, has generated 85 per cent of the value of mining products. At present, the Congo is limited to extraction, which accounts for 15 per cent of the value. So, at the moment, the Congo is losing 80 per cent of the value of its mineral products simply because it does not carry out any processing,” the MP has added.
A boon for DRC–US agreement
Furthermore, the sponsor of this draft bill asserted that it will not disrupt DRC–US agreement recently signed between the two countries. “No, this law will not interfere. On the contrary, it will provide security and guarantees for all US investments. Because in the agreement signed between the United States and DRC, it is clearly stipulated in Article 2.7 that DRC must develop its legal framework. But these same agreements state that the United States wants these mineral products to be processed. By ‘value-adding to these mineral products’, what is meant is the creation of added value and processing,”has explained MP Mulumba. “This bill goes hand in hand with the DRC-US agreements, and better still, it provides security for all investors who, within this framework, wish to contribute funds in support of production,” he has added. The sponsor of this bill had tabled his draft legislation in the National Assembly on October 29th, 2025. Following consideration of the proposal by the relevant parliamentary committee, it will be referred to the upper house for a second reading before being promulgated by the President of the Republic.