Mercuria reports first 12,000 tonnes of DRC copper transferred to Project Vault

The first 12,000 tonnes of copper from the Democratic Republic of Congo have been transferred to Project Vault, according to Mercuria’s global metals head Kostas Bintas. He announced the transfer at the FT Metals and Mining Summit in London on October 14–16. Project Vault is a US strategic critical-minerals reserve backed by the Export-Import Bank of the United States. Mercuria committed $500 million to the initiative in September. Separately, Gécamines had announced plans in January to sell 100,000 tonnes of Tenke Fungurume copper to the United States in 2026; that planned volume should not be confused with the initial transfer reported by Bintas. Gécamines and Mercuria created a trading joint venture in 2025 backed by the US International Development Finance Corporation. The DRC exported 2.40 million tonnes of refined copper in 2025, nearly a quarter of global refined exports. The reported delivery comes as prospective US tariffs reshape trade flows and encourage copper accumulation in American warehouses. Fastmarkets also cites ICSG data showing 691,671 tonnes in COMEX copper stocks at the end of August, up 52.5% from the end of 2025. Including other reported US holdings, around 830,000 tonnes represented roughly 42% of the refined stocks tracked by the ICSG. That denominator differs from Bintas's statement that 18% of the world's copper stock was in the US; the percentages should not be treated as interchangeable. The DRC's SX-EW cathode output reached 2.85 million tonnes in 2025, illustrating the scale of its refined-copper sector relative to this initial consignment. Nexus analysis: The reported transfer is a specific trader-attributed milestone, not proof that the separate annual sales plan has been fulfilled or that prospective US tariffs have been enacted.