US Government Plans New Mining House to Tap Africa’s Copperbelt

A US government-backed group’s plan to take stakes in Glencore Plc’s Congolese copper operations could be the first step in creating an American company to accumulate mining assets in Africa.

Orion CMC – a new venture led by Orion Resource Partners with sovereign backing from the US International Development Finance Corp. and Abu Dhabi’s ADQ – on Tuesday announced a preliminary deal to buy 40% of Glencore’s stakes in its copper-cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The deal would be the first major transaction since the creation of the consortium late last year and deepens the Trump ...