Among others, Gécamines has forged partnerships and joint ventures with companies such as Anglo-Swiss Glencore International,[1] American giant Freeport-McMoran and London-based Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation.

Seeking to enhance profitability by creating lucrative competitive partnerships, in 2013 the Congolese firm appointed US businessman and American Jewish Congress President Jack Rosen on its Board of Directors.

On the 30 October 1906 the Union Minière du Haut-Katanga (UMHK) was founded by the Tanganyika Concessions and Société Générale de Belgique holding companies to mine mineral deposits in southern Katanga Province.

The economic situation of the Congo greatly rested upon the county's relations with the UMHK, but the position of the government in the first few years after independence from Belgium was weak and the administration was unable to exercise much influence over the company's activities.

Mobutu responded by increasing export taxes, ordering the retaining of 10% extracted minerals by the government as a strategic reserve, and announcing intentions to statutorily mandate the incorporation of the UMHK in the Congo by 1 January 1967.

[7] Mobutu responded immediately, halting copper exports, seizing UMHK accounts, and establishing a provisional board to manage the mining operations.

In the 1990s, Gécamines financial situation took a blow, adversely affected by several issues, including aging infrastructure and equipment, the closure of Kamoto Mine in 1990, and ethnic riots in Shaba.

The World Bank then provided funding, with stringent requirements, including a drastic reduction of staff through a policy of voluntary departures concerning 10655 agents and workers in all categories.

In economic difficulty, Gécamines was placed by the World Bank, under the management contract with objective assigned to the French Company of Realization and Construction (SOFRECO).

[17] In 2016, Albert Yuma presented a recovery plan aimed at controlling Gécamines' debt, limiting operating costs and modernizing the company by investing $717 million until 2020 thanks to the increase in production.

[18] On December 23, 2017, Gécamines General Manager Jacques Kamenga announced the start of construction work on two new copper and cobalt production plants in Lualaba in Kolwezi and Kambove in 2018 to achieve this goal.

[21][22] In April 2018, Gécamines announces the signing of an agreement for the construction of two ore processing plants in Kambove and Lubumbashi to exploit the Deziwa copper deposit with the Chinese firm China Nonferrous Metal Mining Group (CNMC) for a total of $880 million.

Gecamines also carries out the project to create a technopole in synergy with research institutes that will include the production of other metals such as antimony, germanium, magnesium, gallium and indium.

With assistance from the World Bank, aided by partnerships with other firms and by proper governance in DR Congo, Gécamines hopes to become again one of the biggest players in copper and cobalt sector.

The internal transformation plan also includes the creation of an operational reserve to improve the allocation of teams according to the needs of each site of the company to rationalize the management of human resources.

In the spirit of the new Mining Code of the Democratic Republic of the Congo adopted in March 2018, Gécamines has announced that it wanted to conclude new and more egalitarian partnerships by increasing the State's share and "the real and growing involvement of Congolese executives".

[42] In February 2018, Gécamines' president, Albert Yuma, presented the implementation of a new form of partnership, based on a farm-out contract, initiated as part of his joint venture with the firm China Nonferrous Metal Mining.

Concluded for a limited time, these partnerships are based on the opening of the capital of the mining projects to an international partner in charge of the initial financing needs.

[47] The investment, which provides for the exploitation of deposits and the construction of primary processing plants, will be reimbursed on production, allowing Gécamines to gradually increase its capital.