But processing ore rather than exporting it comes with a fundamental requirement: power. As Congo’s mining pipeline grows, so does the opportunity for private investment in generation and transmission – an opportunity that will feature at the Congo Energy & Investment Forum (CEIF) 2027 in Brazzaville.

Congo has significant mineral potential, including iron ore, potash and gold, but electricity access remains uneven. The country’s electricity-access rate has risen to 59%, according to President Denis Sassou Nguesso, with access reaching 75% in urban areas. That leaves a substantial infrastructure gap as mining projects move deeper into development and processing.

For investors, the gap creates an opportunity beyond the mine itself. Remote mining and processing developments can require dedicated generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure, creating potential markets for gas-fired power, solar-plus-storage, captive generation, microgrids and other mine-linked solutions.

Mining’s Power Demand Comes Into Focus

Congo’s emerging mining pipeline illustrates how quickly those requirements can scale. Kore Potash’s Kola potash project, for example, targets production of approximately 2.2 million tons of muriate of potash annually. Its development plan estimates electricity demand of 25 MVA at the mine and 50 MVA at the processing plant, while a 57-km, 220-kV transmission line is planned to connect the processing facility to the national grid. The project has also evaluated natural gas for product drying.

Iron ore presents another potentially significant load as Congo seeks to move further downstream. The Zanaga Iron Ore Project is targeting an initial 12 million tons per year, with longer-term plans to reach 30 million tons and produce DRI-grade concentrate. The project has already formalized its power strategy through a memorandum of understanding with Centrale Électrique du Congo (CEC) to assess generation and distribution requirements for Stage One operations. CEC has 484 MW of installed capacity and supplies more than 70% of Congo’s electricity demand, according to Zanaga.

The Mayoko-Moussondji iron ore project is pursuing a similarly integrated industrial model. Ulsan Mining Congo plans an initial processing capacity of around 2.5 million tons annually, with expansion to 10 million tons, alongside longer-term plans for pellet production, direct reduced iron and steelmaking facilities. The project is therefore moving beyond extraction toward a broader mining-to-industry value chain, bringing additional infrastructure and energy requirements into the equation.

From Mining Load to Infrastructure Market

The implication is important for power investors: Congo’s mining buildout could create anchor demand for new energy infrastructure. Rather than treating electricity simply as an operating cost for mining companies, developers can structure generation and transmission around predictable industrial demand. Long-term power-purchase agreements, dedicated generation and build-own-operate-transfer models could provide a route to mobilizing private capital, particularly where national-grid expansion cannot keep pace with new mining districts.

Congo’s gas resources provide a potential source of dispatchable generation, while solar, hydro and battery storage can complement baseload capacity and improve reliability. In remote locations, hybrid systems could provide mines and processing facilities with dedicated power while potentially serving nearby industrial users and communities.

For Congo, the opportunity is to build those lessons into the next generation of mining projects from the outset – linking mineral development with power, transmission and industrial infrastructure rather than treating each as a separate investment.

The opportunity will be among the key investment themes at CEIF 2027, which will bring together energy companies, investors, developers and policymakers in Brazzaville to advance partnerships across Congo’s oil, gas, power and infrastructure sectors. As Congo’s new Mining Code pushes the country toward greater domestic value creation, the next investment question is increasingly clear: who will build the power infrastructure needed to make that ambition commercially viable?