AfricaMuseum Resists U.S. Pressure to Release Congo Geological Archives to Mining Company
The AfricaMuseum in Tervuren, Belgium, is resisting pressure from the Trump administration to release geological archive material on Congo to the American mining company Kobold Metals. The museum intends to digitize the archives itself, rather than allowing a private company to handle the process. The archives, which contain valuable data on the Congolese subsoil, are of interest to Kobold Metals for identifying potential mining sites rich in critical raw materials like cobalt, copper, and coltan. The Trump administration has been applying diplomatic pressure to facilitate the transfer of these archives to Kobold Metals, which is partly owned by prominent figures such as Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates. The museum, supported by the Belgian government and the European Union, maintains that the archives are public and should not be exclusively accessed by a private entity. 
