Belgium Moves to Digitise Congo-Era Geological Archives Amid Global Demand for Critical Minerals

Belgium has begun efforts to open public access to a vast collection of geological records from the colonial era in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as global competition intensifies for critical minerals essential to modern technology and industry.

The extensive archive, housed at the AfricaMuseum in Tervuren near Brussels, contains nearly 500 metres of documents, including geological surveys, maps, field reports, and mining records dating back decades. The museum has announced plans to digitise the collection and make it publicly accessible within the next five years.

According to museum geologist François Kervyn, who is leading the project, the archive contains invaluable scientific information gathered through years of fieldwork conducted across largely unexplored regions of Congo during the colonial period.

The records include geological studies carried out by Belgian researchers as well as documents from mining companies that operated in Congo before the country's independence in 1960. While many of the surveys focused on copper and gold deposits, several also contain information relating to cobalt, lithium, and other strategic minerals that have become increasingly important in today's global economy.

The initiative comes at a time when countries and corporations are competing for access to minerals used in electric vehicle batteries, renewable energy technologies, mobile devices, and defence systems.

Museum officials disclosed that a proposal by United States-based mining technology company KoBold Metals to manage the digitisation process was declined. Instead, the project will be executed with support from the European Union through a European contractor yet to be appointed.

AfricaMuseum Director-General Bart Ouvry explained that the institution rejected the offer to avoid granting exclusive access to a single private company.

The digitised records are expected to support scientific research and assist the Congolese government in identifying potential mineral deposits and attracting investment into the country's mining sector.

The Democratic Republic of Congo remains one of the world's most resource-rich nations, possessing significant reserves of copper, cobalt, coltan, lithium, and other critical minerals. The country's mineral wealth has increasingly attracted interest from global powers seeking to secure supply chains for future technological and industrial development.

The archive project will also cover an additional collection of mining-related records preserved at Belgium's State Archives in Brussels, further expanding access to historical geological data on the Central African nation.

Poet of Afrique Reporter

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