The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) approved a plan to partner with Portuguese construction company Mota-Engil SGPS on rehabilitating a key railway used for transporting copper and cobalt.

The Congolese part of the Lobito Corridor will undergo a “complete rehabilitation” through a public-private partnership endorsed by Congo’s government on July 10, according to minutes of a cabinet meeting read out the same day on state television. Mota-Engil is already part of a consortium that operates a connecting rail line in neighbouring Angola that runs to the Atlantic Ocean coast, allowing for cross-border continuity.

The Lobito Corridor is a major railway project linking Angola’s Port of Lobito to Africa’s Copperbelt and promises to significantly reduce transport times for critical minerals being exported to western markets. The infrastructure has received financial backing from the US, and President Donald Trump’s administration has been supportive of Mota-Engil’s efforts to win the deal as his country deepens its involvement in Congo’s booming mining sector.

The Central African country is the world’s second-biggest copper producer and the top source of battery material cobalt. US interest in Congo’s natural resources has accelerated since Trump returned to the White House as his administration tries to reduce dependence on China for a wide range of mineral products.

The US and Congo signed an agreement in December that gives American investors preferential access to some deposits of metals including copper, cobalt, lithium and tantalum, with the pact emphasizing the “strategic nature” of the Lobito Corridor. Chinese miners including CMOC Group and Zijin Mining Group currently account for most of Congo’s copper and cobalt production.

While the contract still needs to be finalized, Mota-Engil now looks set to become responsible for renovating the dilapidated railway which passes through the mining hubs of Kolwezi, Tenke and Lubumbashi. The firm’s venture with Trafigura Group on the Angolan side has an existing track access agreement with Congo’s state railway company. The minutes of the ministerial meeting didn’t provide any additional details about the terms or duration of the partnership.

In December, the DFC said it had signed a letter of interest for up to $1-billion with the Portuguese firm to help it repair and manage the railway in Congo.

There’s also a separate endeavour to connect Zambia – Africa’s No. 2 copper producer – to the Lobito Corridor. At the same time, China is progressing with a $1.4-billion overhaul of an export railway that can move minerals from Zambia to the Indian Ocean port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.

China’s state-owned China Communications Construction Co., or CCCC, owns 31% of Mota-Engil, which has engineering, industrial and mining projects in 20 countries across Africa and South America, as well as in Spain and Portugal.