By: OrePulse

The Democratic Republic of Congo's subcontracting regulator plans to audit major mining companies every year from 2027 onward, and has already ordered Glencore, Ivanhoe Mines' Kipushi zinc operation and Sicomines to correct non-compliant subcontracting arrangements, according to the regulator's director general.

Beleshayi Kasanda Ted, director general of the Authority for the Regulation of Subcontracting in the Private Sector (ARSP), said the annual audits will focus on subcontracting practices and local-content compliance among major mining operators. The audits are tied to a new local-content law that takes effect January 1, 2027, which introduces sector-specific rules for mining, including sanctions for non-compliance and a mandatory three-year timeline for companies to come into line.

ARSP has ordered Glencore, the Kipushi zinc mine operated by Ivanhoe Mines, and Sicomines to end subcontracting arrangements the regulator considers non-compliant and to expand opportunities for Congolese-owned suppliers, submitting corrective plans under the compliance timeline. Other major operators active in the Democratic Republic of Congo's mining sector include Eurasian Resources Group, CMOC and Zijin, according to ARSP.

ARSP said major mining companies reported $3.7 billion worth of subcontracting contracts for 2025, with 83% of that total — roughly $3.1 billion — awarded to firms majority-owned by Congolese nationals.

Robert Malumba Kalombo, head of the Federation of Enterprises of Congo, said the new compliance regime could become "too focused on inspections and penalties rather than helping build competitive Congolese companies."

Congo Is Not for Sale, a civil society group, pressed for more openness about how the audit and compliance process would be carried out. The group said that without stronger safeguards, stricter local-content requirements could benefit politically connected firms rather than the broader base of Congolese suppliers the law is meant to support.

Companies affected by the compliance timeline have until the three-year deadline set out in the law to align their subcontracting arrangements with the new local-content requirements, ARSP said. The audit regime will apply to major cobalt, copper and zinc producers operating in the country, according to the regulator, with Glencore, Ivanhoe Mines' Kipushi operation and Sicomines named as the first companies ordered to submit corrective plans.

As part of the same effort, ARSP said it is recruiting additional inspectors and revisiting the findings of inspections already carried out, describing the work as part of a broader push to strengthen compliance oversight across the mining sector ahead of the law's January 2027 start date.