DRC accelerates geological data digitisation with national databank

The Democratic Republic of Congo has launched a nationwide geological mapping programme to feed a national geological databank on critical minerals. Director General Raoul Wazenga Vitima of the National Geological Survey of Congo said the programme began in January 2024 with a US$180 million contract awarded to the Spanish company Xcalibur to conduct an airborne geophysics survey of more than 700,000 square kilometres. The databank is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2026 and will incorporate results from several mapping projects funded by the government, mining revenues and international partners.

The databank will be managed through a tiered‑access system in which basic geological information is provided free of charge while more sensitive datasets will be subject to fees. Vitima said ‘the data generated under these programmes constitute a strategic asset of the Congolese state’ and that requests for access will be assessed against both investor needs and the protection of Congo’s ‘strategic interests’. Unlike jurisdictions such as Australia, the Congolese state intends to retain control of access and to use revenue from certain data products to fund continued exploration and mapping.

Why does it matter?

Geological information is central to exploration investment and can strengthen the state’s negotiating position over strategic minerals such as cobalt, copper and lithium. By creating a national databank, the DRC is also bringing questions of data ownership, classification, access pricing, transparency and equal treatment of investors into critical minerals governance, reflecting a broader trend in which governments are treating high-value sectoral data as strategic national infrastructure.