Congo’s Copper Returns to the Lobito Corridor as the West’s Mineral Railway Reopens
Update · 13 August 2026
The African Development Bank has approved the first public money for the corridor’s Zambian leg. On 6 August 2026 its Board approved a US$255 million loan from the African Development Fund, alongside a US$10 million grant from the Rome Process and Mattei Plan Financing Facility.
The package funds roughly 550 kilometres of new railway in Zambia and upgrades 105 kilometres of the Mwinilunga–Jimbe road. The bank calls it a first tranche of a programme that could reach up to US$500 million in later phases.
This is the part of the corridor that does not yet exist. The Angolan leg described below — the rehabilitated 1,300-kilometre Benguela Railway, run under a 30-year concession by Lobito Atlantic Railway — has been moving Congolese copper and cobalt since 2024. The Zambian section is greenfield construction.
Pledged investment across the wider corridor now exceeds US$2.7 billion. Pledges are not disbursements: reporting on the project puts Zambia’s rail overhaul alone at about US$4 billion and ten to fifteen years of work. Zambia votes on 13 August 2026, a week after the approval, and Angola holds a general election in 2027.
The competition has also moved. China signed a US$1.4 billion agreement with Zambia and Tanzania in late 2025 to overhaul the Tazara line, so the eastern route is being recapitalised rather than left to decline.
DR CONGO · MINERALS
Key Facts
—The reopening. The Lobito Atlantic Railway has received its first copper shipment from the Democratic Republic of Congo since reopening a flood-damaged stretch of track, the operator said on June 13, according to Mining Weekly and Bloomberg.
—The closure. The link between the port of Lobito and the Angolan city of Huambo was shut for about two months by severe flooding. It was restored after emergency repairs.
—The route. The railway runs 1,300 kilometres from the Atlantic coast to the Congolese border at Luau, with a 450-kilometre extension to Kolwezi. Trafigura calls it the shortest path from the Copperbelt to an African port, at roughly seven days inland.
—The cargo. It carries copper and cobalt, the metals at the heart of batteries, power grids and data centres.
—The backers. The line is owned by Trafigura, Mota-Engil and Vecturis, and has secured about $753 million in debt financing from the US International Development Finance Corporation and the Development Bank of Southern Africa.
—The contest. It is the centrepiece of a US and European push to move African critical minerals without relying on supply chains controlled by China.
The Lobito Corridor is open for business again. Angola’s Lobito Atlantic Railway has received its first copper shipment from the Democratic Republic of Congo since flooding shut part of the line, restoring a route the West is counting on to move African critical minerals to the Atlantic.
Why the Lobito Corridor matters
The Lobito Corridor is the most ambitious piece of transport infrastructure in central Africa, and one of the most closely watched in the world. It links the copper and cobalt mines of the Congolese interior to a deep-water Atlantic port, cutting a journey that once took weeks down to about a week.
For Congo, the world’s largest source of cobalt and a major copper producer, the route is a way to sell its minerals faster and more cheaply. For the United States and Europe, it is something more strategic: a supply line for the metals that batteries, electric grids and artificial-intelligence data centres cannot do without.
That is why a routine freight announcement carried such weight. The first train from Congo since the flood repairs signalled that the corridor can absorb a shock and keep running.
What the flood closure revealed
The disruption was serious. The section between the port of Lobito and Huambo was closed for roughly two months after severe flooding damaged the track, according to the railway operator’s June 13 statement.
Rather than halt exports, the company kept cargo moving through a workaround. It transferred freight between trains and trucks on either side of the damaged stretch until repairs were finished.
“The arrival of this first international train from the DRC demonstrates the resilience of our operation and the extraordinary commitment of our teams,” said Nicholas Fournier, chief executive of the Lobito Atlantic Railway.
The episode was a test of the corridor’s reliability, the quality investors and miners value most. A route that recovers quickly from a flood is a route they can plan around.
A railway at the centre of a great-power contest
The Lobito line sits squarely inside the wider competition for Africa’s resources. It is owned by the commodities group Trafigura, the Portuguese construction firm Mota-Engil and the rail operator Vecturis, and runs under a 30-year concession from the Angolan state.
Western governments have put money behind it. The venture has secured about $753 million in debt financing from the US International Development Finance Corporation and the Development Bank of Southern Africa to keep rehabilitating and expanding the track.
The political backdrop is just as pointed. In February, Congo’s state cobalt company and Trafigura shipped the first copper and cobalt to global markets along the line, with the first copper cargo sent to customers in the United States.
Washington framed that delivery as proof of a 2025 minerals-and-security understanding with Kinshasa, part of an effort to loosen China’s grip on Congolese supply chains. For decades, much of Congo’s output has flowed east and been processed in China; the Atlantic route offers an alternative direction of travel.
What it means for Congo and Angola
A working corridor changes the calculus for two countries at once. Angola earns fees and relevance as the gateway, recasting a colonial-era railway as a modern trade asset.
Congo gains leverage. With a faster, cheaper export route, it can press for more of its minerals to be weighed, traded and eventually processed closer to home, rather than shipped out as raw ore.
The benefits are not guaranteed. Much depends on whether the upgrades continue, whether a planned extension toward Zambia is built, and whether the two states can turn transit volumes into lasting value for their own economies.
For now, the message from Lobito is simple. The trains are running again, and the race to carry Africa’s critical minerals has a Western-backed contender firmly back on the rails.
More: Angola news in English, every day from The Rio Times.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Lobito Corridor?
It is a railway and trade route running from the Atlantic port of Lobito in Angola to the Democratic Republic of Congo, used mainly to export copper and cobalt. It is operated by the Lobito Atlantic Railway under a 30-year concession.
Why did the Lobito Corridor close?
A section between the port of Lobito and Huambo was shut for about two months by severe flooding. The Lobito Atlantic Railway said the line was restored after emergency repairs.
Why does the West back the Lobito Corridor?
The corridor gives the United States and Europe a route to move Congolese critical minerals to the Atlantic without relying on Chinese-controlled supply chains. It has drawn US and Southern African development financing.
Who owns the Lobito Atlantic Railway?
It is owned by the commodities group Trafigura, the construction firm Mota-Engil and the rail operator Vecturis. The venture secured about $753 million in debt financing from the US DFC and the Development Bank of Southern Africa.
Connected Coverage
This story is part of our continuing coverage in Africa: The New Scramble, tracking the contest for the continent’s resources. See also our Central Africa coverage, how the US–Congo minerals deal ties peace to your next battery, why the US and EU are backing the Lobito Corridor, and the squeeze on Angola’s oil revenue.
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