President Trump has talked about the Monroe Doctrine, which essentially says the biggest country with the most force in the region can declare various countries around them as their spheres of influence. President Trump offered the reasoning as he made changes to the Presidency of Venezuela. Sometimes the Doctrine goes around the world.

In an article by Geoffrey York of the Globe and Mail, reporting on Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo has a long history of other countries extracting resources from it. In the 1880’s countries around Europe declared parts of Africa as their own and the Congo fell into Belgium influence. For the first years, it was a private fiefdom of the King, then it transitioned to the country of Belgium. In the 1960’s, there were civil wars and eventually independence with a new name of Zaire. The country changed its name to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Unfortunately, it was and has been involved in wars with neighboring countries and parts of the country is in rebel hands and parts in government hands.

The President of the US has talked about critical minerals and sent out his team to secure them. One of the critical minerals is called coltan is processed into tantalum, which is used in manufacture of cellphones and computers. In the eastern part of the country near a town of Rubaya there is deposits 15-30% of the world’s coltan is mined.

In contrast to global miners with large open pit mining and underground mining, the area around Rubaya is a sprawling site of informal pits and mineshafts where thousands of Congloses dig minerals by hand earning a few dollars a day.

The area has been controlled by a Rwanda-backed rebel force called M23. President Trump has declared one of the 8 conflicts he has ended is the war in eastern Congo. The war continues.

In a side deal during the US brokered peace negotiations between the Congo and Rwanda, the Congo government signed an agreement with US investors to have preferred access to a list of strategic assets in the critical minerals sector.

The Congo government has launched a major assault on a key rebel-held mining hub. Part of the assault was to kill some of the leaders of the M23 leadership.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, if you own mining stocks, often the company will have claims and mines in other countries around the world. The President of Exxon said one of the key elements of his company going to another country is the agreement between the company and the government for long-term benefits to flow to each. For other companies, it is a monetary, but once established it becomes a home based interest of the government.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.