Mercuria Delivers 12 kt of DRC Copper to US Reserves

**Mercuria Delivers 12,000 mt of DRC Copper Into US Project Vault Reserve**

SMM, October 16: According to foreign media reports, on October 15, Kostas Bintas, global head of metals and minerals at Swiss commodity trader Mercuria, said at the Financial Times Metals and Mining Summit in London that 12,000 mt of copper from the DRC had entered the US critical minerals reserve project Project Vault this week, marking the first trial shipment. Bintas said the DRC has committed to supplying at least 100,000 mt of copper to the US through a joint venture between state-owned miner Gécamines and Mercuria, and this delivery is part of that supply arrangement, with the copper cargo now in the US strategic reserve system.

Project Vault was launched in February 2026 with a planned size of approximately $12 billion, comprising a $10 billion loan from the Export-Import Bank of the United States and approximately $2 billion in private funding, aimed at building an emergency reserve of critical minerals for US civilian industries to mitigate supply disruption risks. Mercuria previously announced in September a commitment of $500 million to the project.