DR Congo signed a deal with a US investment company that will deliver AI-driven geological research to improve mapping of the country’s minerals.
Under the five-year agreement, signed at the Mining Indaba in Cape Town, Atlas Park will examine historical data on the country’s mineral deposits and carry out new geological surveys. The findings, which will be shared with DR Congo’s national geological service, will drive the company’s investment decisions. Atlas Park and Kinshasa did not disclose the value of the agreement.
“Nowhere in the world has more potential for exploration than the DRC,” Kai Han, Atlas Park’s CEO, told Semafor. “We want to make money by investing in exploration… and to do that effectively we need to create a better data environment.”
The agreement is the latest in a number of deals agreed by DR Congo with US companies and Washington itself, as Kinshasa looks to benefit from its natural resources.
Copper and cobalt — of which the central African country has rich deposits — are in particularly high demand because of their use in AI technologies and clean energy.