Ms. Bernadette Mpundu-Mpia, Vice-President of the DRC Chamber of Mines in Charge of Mining Entrepreneurship and DRC Mining Week advisory board member has built her career around mining legislation, investment facilitation and strategic partnerships. She has worked extensively to connect investors, operators and authorities, with a strong focus on local value creation and inclusivity. Her current projects include structuring copper and gold ventures, strengthening subcontracting networks, and advancing international partnerships to finance mining initiatives. Central to her mission is promoting women’s participation in mining, exemplified by her annual Women’s Day initiative, now in its fifth year, which equips women with knowledge and opportunities to invest in the sector.
She emphasises that industrialisation, particularly in battery minerals, requires infrastructure development, local processing, regulatory stability and capacity building. Despite challenges in governance and financing, she sees significant opportunities and political will to achieve sustainable industrialisation. Mpundu-Mpia urges Congolese women to “dare” to enter the industry, pursue training and position themselves confidently, noting that women represent over half the population but less than 10% of mining participants. She concludes that mining is the lever of Congo’s economic development and must benefit all citizens, contributing to a more inclusive and prosperous future.
Thank you for granting us this interview. Could you start by introducing yourself, telling us about your background so far and your current role?
Hello, my name is Bernadette Mpundu-Mpia. I am vice-president of the Chamber of Mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo. I am also a mining and quarrying officer, so that’s what it means to be a specialist in mining legislation in the Democratic Republic of Congo. And besides that, I am also a member of the board of directors of the SEQ.
So my career is deeply rooted in the mining sector, as I just said, where I am involved in investment facilitation, support for mining projects and the structuring of strategic partnerships. Over the years, I have developed an expertise in connecting investors, operators and authorities with a particular focus on the creation of local values. My commitment also extends to promoting a more inclusive mining sector. Here we are talking about subcontracting and in particular through the increased involvement of women. That is what I can say at the moment.
Can you tell us about some of your current projects that are particularly exciting to you at the moment?
Currently, I am working on several initiatives related to the structuring of mining projects, particularly in the copper and gold sectors. I am particularly committed to the development of international partnerships to finance and accelerate projects. So, I also structure local subcontracting in order to strengthen the economic fabric in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
I also do a lot of projects to promote initiatives aimed at integrating women more into the mining value chain, and in particular in the Chamber of Mines. I am the initiator of the Women’s Day, which has also known, which is having its fifth edition this year, where women are involved, they are given information on the mining sector to allow them to get closer, to invest, that is to say, to take advantage of the mining trunk that our Republic offers us. It’s really a very big commitment and I work on it every year, I do this activity. So it’s to tell you that my commitment is really deep.
In the mining sector, industrialization is a key issue, especially with regard to battery ores. What do you think is needed to enable the DRC to seize this opportunity for industrialization of the mining sector? What do you see as the main challenges and opportunities?
Yes, we all know very well that Airdessie has exceptional mining potential, particularly with the strategic mines linked to the energy transition. To succeed in its industrialization, several elements must be taken into account, taking into account the development of infrastructure. That’s very important. There is the local processing of minerals. This is just as important. And a stable and attractive regulatory framework. This is also important. And then, next to that, there is empowerment or, I can say, local capacity building. The challenges remain significant, obviously, because there are problems related to financing, there are problems related to governance, there are problems related to infrastructure, but the opportunities are considerable, particularly in the value chain being debated. So the challenges cannot discourage us because the political will is there, the will of the Congolese population is there, we know that we will overcome all the difficulties to really achieve a real industrialization of our mining sector because it is the only way to be able to catch the added value we need for the development of our country’s economy.
As a member of the DRC Mining Week Advisory Board, what is your vision for the mining sector in the Copperbelt?
Well, our role is really important and essential because we guide the strategic themes and the event and we guarantee its relevance. This is very important. So we make it possible to align the discussions with the real issues of the sector. So, in the future, it would be really important to strengthen the discussions, especially on local processing, project financing and their role in order to be able to highlight all these aspects.
DRC Mining Week celebrated its 20th edition last year. To what extent did this event contribute to fostering dialogue, knowledge sharing, business innovation, as well as the promotion of the role of women in the mining sector?
What we can say is that Dias Mining Week has become a go-to platform. It plays a key role. She has played and continues to play this key role for years. This role is to promote dialogue between public and private actors, which is very important. He played the role of facilitating knowledge sharing, which is also very important.
DRC Mining Week promoted innovation in the mining sector and most importantly, DRC Mining Week highlighted the role of women in the sector. It is a real catalyst for partnerships and opportunities. I’m very, proud to belong to this job.
How important is a strong sector advisory board for an event like DRC Mining Week?
I think that the advisory board, which is strong and essential to guide the strategic themes of the event, is guaranteed its relevance, I wanted to say that. It aligns discussions with the real challenges of the sector. So, as I was saying earlier, in the future, it would be really important to strengthen the discussions around local processing, financing projects and really planning for their sustainability. That’s it, that’s quite important.
What are your thoughts on the evolution of this platform or the topics that you think should be addressed?
The platform already plays a fundamental role, as I said above. And I insist on the fact that we should instead focus on the discussions that tend towards the industrialization of the mining sector in the Democratic Republic of Congo and bring innovative ideas for advancement. Because we need to get out of the cliché of extraction and really maintain a serious dialogue both internationally and internally so that we can reflect together on the large-scale mining industrialization in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Today we are already talking about the battery, but tomorrow I would also like us to be able to add the foundry, the foundries for gold processing, etc.
So we have to improve our theme in any case in relation to that. So focus above all on industrialization because it remains the lever of economic development for the mining sector in which we work and for which this forum is still organized. That is what I think.
What is the importance of the WOMEN – Mines & Leadership Forum organized each year as part of the DRC Mining Week?
We are organizing a forum on women as part of the DRC Mining Week. This forum, in fact, remains a powerful lever for sustainably transforming the mining sector and making it more inclusive. The DRC cannot exempt itself from setting up for the entire population, throughout the years dedicated to men.
It is a sector that also gives opportunities for women to help out because there are a lot of subjects in which women excel and these subjects in which they can flourish. The forum dedicated to women is very important because it highlights the role that women must play, so that women stop dreaming of this role, but women really need to be able to catch this role and flourish in it. That’s it, it’s very, very important.
You are an accomplished woman in the mining sector, which is still widely perceived as a male-dominated environment. What message would you like to send to other women interested in this sector?
So my message for women is a very, very short message and a message that I give every year. I always tell women that the mining sector offers a lot of opportunities for women. So my message is simple. Women, dare, you have to dare, come to the area. Train yourself to be able to earn your place in the sector and then position yourself. Position yourself because it has room for everyone. It really remains a sector that can accommodate as many women as possible because the place of women is still quite empty. We can count at our fingertips the number of women who are really emerging in the mini sector. However, we are still 50% of the Congolese population.
So more than 50%, 54% if I am mistaken, of the Congolese population. And in the mining sector, we have no more than 10% participation at all levels of activity in the sector. That’s very, very little. So Congolese women, dare, train yourself and position yourself in the mining sector. Thank you.
Thank you again for your time. Do you have a last word or message to share?
What I can say for the end is that the DRC has had a historic opportunity to become a key player in the global energy transition. This requires a clear vision, strong partnerships, and a willingness to include all parties present.
For my part, I remain convinced that the development of the mining sector must benefit everyone and must contribute sustainably to the country’s growth. So if you want, I can just say that the sector is the lever of development, the sector is the lever of Congo’s economic development. So we must all get involved so that this dream of a better Congo can become a reality for all. There you go, thank you very much.
DRC Mining Week dates and venue 2026:
– Expo and conference: 17–19 June 2026
– Location: The Pullman Grand Karavia Hotel, Lubumbashi, DRC
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