Truce in DR Congo offers US mining foothold while Chinese firms dominate output

A peace plan agreed between the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Rwanda-backed M23 movement last weekend could open the rebel-held Rubaya coltan deposit and other parts of mineral-rich eastern Congo to US investors. But observers say that even a lasting settlement would leave the United States far behind China, whose companies have spent decades building mining assets, relationships and supply chains across the country. The peace road map followed five days of talks and set out steps and...