Belgium unlocks colonial-era Congo mining records with $24 trillion at stake as U.S. and China compete for critical minerals

Belgium is preparing to open a vast colonial-era geological archive on the Democratic Republic of Congo, placing decades-old mining records at the centre of a modern race for critical minerals.

The archive is housed at the AfricaMuseum in Tervuren, outside Brussels, and contains nearly 500 metres of records, including century-old maps, mining files, survey reports and field notes compiled during Belgium’s colonial rule.

For Kinshasa, the files could help identify unexplored deposits, attract investors and strengthen its control over a mining sector tied to mineral resources estimated at $24 trillion by the U.S. International Trade Administration.

A Colonial Archive With Modern Value

Belgian geologists and mining companies compiled the records before Congo’s independence in 1960, focusing mainly on copper and gold, although some documents also point to cobalt and lithium deposits.