DRC–Zambia Battery Partnership Faces Crucial Test as Copperbelt Eyes Industrial Transformation
DRC and Zambia Push EV Battery Value Chain Plans as Investors Scrutinise Copperbelt Industrial Ambitions
As policymakers, executives and investors gathered for the annual DRC Mining Week in Lubumbashi, attention once again turned to one of Africa’s most ambitious industrialisation initiatives: the effort by Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to develop an integrated electric vehicle (EV) battery value chain in the Copperbelt region.
Four years after Presidents Félix Tshisekedi and Hakainde Hichilema signed the cooperation agreement in 2022, stakeholders increasingly assessed whether the initiative had moved from political commitment toward practical industrial implementation.
From raw exports to value addition ambitions
The partnership was originally designed to transform both countries from exporters of raw minerals into active participants in global battery manufacturing supply chains.
Zambia and the DRC collectively hold some of the world’s largest reserves of copper and cobalt, minerals essential for EV batteries, renewable energy storage systems and advanced electronics.
The strategy aimed to develop an integrated regional ecosystem covering mineral processing, precursor materials production and, in the long term, battery component manufacturing for international markets.
At the time of the agreement, both governments framed the initiative as a structural shift in Africa’s resource economy, with leaders emphasising the need to retain greater value within producing countries rather than exporting unprocessed raw materials.
Strategic positioning in global critical minerals markets
The Copperbelt remained central to global supply chains for copper and cobalt, with demand continuing to rise due to the expansion of electric mobility and global energy transition policies.
Industry analysts noted that while full-scale battery manufacturing required substantial long-term investment, the most immediate opportunities lay in midstream segments such as refining, cathode precursor production and chemical processing.
These areas generated significantly more value than raw mineral exports while requiring less capital than complete battery manufacturing ecosystems.
Institutional coordination and investment requirements
To support implementation, the two governments established the DRC–Zambia Battery Council, mandated to coordinate policy alignment, infrastructure development and investment promotion across both countries.
The effectiveness of the initiative depended on several structural factors, including access to reliable electricity, development of transport and logistics infrastructure, regulatory certainty and the ability to attract international technology partners.
For investors attending DRC Mining Week, the central question was no longer the availability of mineral resources, but whether the region could develop the industrial and institutional capacity required to compete in the global battery value chain.
Regional industrialisation outlook
If fully implemented, the initiative had the potential to become one of the most significant industrial development projects in sub-Saharan Africa, linking mining and manufacturing hubs across Lubumbashi and Kolwezi in the DRC with Kitwe and Ndola in Zambia.
Such an outcome would have aligned with the African Mining Vision adopted by the African Union, which called for mineral resources to serve as a foundation for industrialisation, economic diversification and sustainable development rather than export dependency.
The DRC–Zambia battery partnership remains one of the most closely watched industrial initiatives in the global critical minerals sector.
Its trajectory depended on sustained political commitment, investment mobilisation and the development of competitive industrial infrastructure over the long term.
As discussions took place in Lubumbashi, the Copperbelt continued to be repositioned not only as a major source of raw materials, but also as a potential future hub for battery materials processing and clean energy manufacturing.
