ACCRA - The U.S. is using offtake deals and state-backed funding to compete in the short term with China in securing supplies of African copper, cobalt and other critical minerals, diplomats, executives and analysts said ahead of this week's Indaba.Washington's focus is on Zambia, Guinea and Democratic Republic of Congo. The latter accounts for more than 70% of global cobalt supplies and produced some 3.3 million metric tons of copper in 2024.Instead of placing U.S. operators in high-risk countries, however, the U.S. is leaning towards offtake and other trading structures such as one i…READ FULL ARTICLE
