The Democratic Republic of Congo has intensified its push to recover millions of colonial-era geological maps and records held in Belgium, as it seeks greater control over data showing the location of its copper, cobalt and other mineral resources.
Congolese Mines Minister Louis Watum Kabamba met Belgian and European Union officials to discuss the digitisation and transfer of records held at the Royal Museum for Central Africa near Brussels, the Luxembourg Times reported.
The collection includes maps, field reports, aerial photographs, rock samples and other documents gathered during decades of geological exploration under Belgian colonial rule from 1885 to 1960.
Importantly, the records could help identify new deposits of copper, cobalt, lithium and other minerals used in electric vehicles, renewable-energy systems and advanced technologies.
The archive also forms part of the broader debate over material retained by Belgium after colonial rule.
