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In the heart of Africa, a battle is raging.

The battle for influence in Africa

between the US and China is increasingly heating up.

At stake are the raw materials found here

in Central Africa's Copperbelt.

They are essential for powering the technology,

energy and transport revolutions shaping our future.

It's a race in which we all have a stake,

and so far China is winning.

In the last decade, China has invested tens

of billions of dollars in Africa's infrastructure.

The Chinese government is willing

to invest no less than 70 billion yuan in Africa.

And that's why today, more than 70%

of the Copperbelt's riches are going East.

But now China's grim data indicates

a serious economic slowdown.

As China stalls, the US is playing catch up.

It's tempting to accept easy money

from places like China.

There's a better alternative.

We all know it and we can all achieve it together.

Africa has tremendous business potential.

I have so many friends

going to your countries trying to get rich.

The last two administrations have been working

to build a new western route out

for the Copperbelt's riches

via the Angolan port of Lobito.

So far, the United States

and our partners have committed over $4 billion

to Lobito Corridor projects.

It's called the Lobito Corridor.

And this new road, rail and communications network

is shaping up to be the biggest US investment

in African history.

The United States is all in on Africa's future.

But with all eyes on how the US, China,

and the rest of the world will benefit,

how do people who live along the corridor feel about it?

What do they stand to gain?

Those are the questions I'm determined to answer.

My name's Dwayne Fields, and I'm a British explorer

and filmmaker used to working

in some of the wildest corners of the world.

That's saying "The sky's the limit."

Well, it's not.

I was born in Jamaica and raised in the UK,

but I recently discovered

my ancestors come from the Copperbelt region.

And that's why this story first grabbed my attention.

But the more I learned, the more I believed

it was a story we should all know more about.

The camera that's filming me right now,

the laptop I'm working on, these headphones,

tablet, laptop for work, Bluetooth speaker,

they all have need for raw materials,

which are extracted right there in the Copperbelt.

So my connection is a biological one,

but also a lifestyle one, which I think all of us share.

I think the more we understand

where things like our food come from,

the more we can understand our own impact.

And I think the exact same thing applies for technology.

So I'm going on a 3000-mile journey across Africa,

from east to west through four African nations.

I'll be heading into the heart of the Copperbelt region.

From there, I'll follow the route of the corridor

all the way to Lobito on Angola's Atlantic coast.

But my journey starts on Africa's east coast in Tanzania.

This country of almost 70 million people has been a magnet

for explorers, traders and empire builders for centuries.

Today, Tanzania's capital is still a booming trade hub,

and it's the quickest way out for the Copperbelt's riches

with almost 75% of its copper,

cobalt and other critical minerals passing through here.

And most of that is bound for China.

That stranglehold is a result of decades

of Chinese investment in Tanzania's roads,

railways and ports.

And it's that stranglehold the US is hoping to break.

But what do people living here feel

about being caught in the middle?

I've come to meet Elsie, a Tanzanian journalist

who I hope can help me find out.

Elsie, this is probably one of the best meeting spots

I've ever had with anybody.

- It's gorgeous, isn't it? - Do you know?

I'm amazed at how many ships are lined up.

- Yeah. - 'Cause if you count them,

there's like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14.

There's a few more in the corner there.

Wow, there's just a lot of trade,

because part of it has to do with the fact

that we are still the port through which countries

like say, Rwanda, Uganda. - Yeah, yeah.

Oh, of course, because they're landlocked countries,

aren't they? - Yes,

so most of our neighbours,

apart from like Kenya and Mozambique.

Yeah, yeah.

They don't have the big ports, but we do.

'Cause I think we're a gateway into the heart

of the African continent.

Some of these ships are probably coming in

from China, aren't they?

Bringing stuff, but also taking things away.

Chinese do a lot for Tanzania, don't they?

Yeah, they really do.

There's been a historic relationship

between our two countries for a long time,

longer than I've been alive.

And there's quite a bit

of Chinese investment over the years.

Yeah, a lot of infrastructure and projects.

We have a history of colonialism with Europe,

so they were quite literally physically here.

But we also have long relationships with the East,

with India, with the Middle East,

with wherever we traded before, and China.

At the moment, it feels like there's a rush

from the East, from the West,

and it's culminating in countries like Angola.

The coal Copperbelt region, the DRC.

You've got the train lines being invested

into reach deeper into the continent.

There's a saying, you know,

when two elephants are clashing,

it's the grass-

- That gets trampled. - Exactly.

These are, of course, great powers at play

in our environment, but the landscape

on which they're playing this out is inhabited by us.

So what's our input going to be?

And doesn't take away agency from us.

It shouldn't.

If all goes well, it means that we're going

to gain fantastic infrastructure across the continent.

So if we can connect it better,

it doesn't just mean exporting things.

It means the Africans along those lines

are also getting integrated much better.

If it doesn't go well, then maybe

it's just carving up Africa all over again for its minerals.

Who controls this part, who controls that part?

I'm hoping that this time around,

if we're gonna talk in conflict terms,

that we're smart enough to be able

to not get divided again into pieces

that end up on someone else's plate.

Like Elsie said, China

and Tanzania go way back.

If you want proof,

look no further than the TAZARA Railway.

It was conceived in the 1960s as a partnership

between Tanzania and its newly independent neighbour Zambia.

Zambia's survival depended on export and its copper,

but apartheid regimes in Southern Africa

were blocking its trade routes to the south.

In a gesture of African solidarity,

Tanzania offered a new railway to the sea.

To pay for it, Zambia and Tanzania turned

to the West for support.

Their request was ignored.

So in stepped the new kid on the block, communist China.

Construction began in 1970,

and by the time it was completed five years later,

it was China's largest ever foreign aid project.

And stretching over 1100 miles,

it was Africa's longest railway.

50 years on, the railway has seen better days.

Due to a serious lack of investment,

it's been plagued by closures and delays.

Today, this famous mining railway carries only

a tiny fraction of Zambia's copper exports.

The rest goes by road.

I've been told this train might not make it

all the way to Zambia, but I'd better jump on just in case.

Look at this.

It's a cabin.

It's basic, but it's got everything

you need for a 24-hour journey.

China isn't taking America's challenge lying down.

In response to the Lobito Corridor,

they've announced a massive new investment in the TAZARA.

It could certainly do with a little bit of love.

Luckily, I've always been comfortable around trains.

One of my first jobs was working on the London Underground.

So as we wind our way west

through Tanzania's spectacular countryside,

I can't resist the chance to visit the man in charge.

Just press.

These were made in China.

- These are Chinese chains. - Yes.

So does that mean

that Tanzania has a good relationship with China?

- Yes. - Oh, okay.

This railway has been built by China.

I think they are coming back to renovate.

- Oh really? - Yes.

- To make it bigger. - Yes.

Improve it?

They are coming.

My father was not a train driver.

- Yeah. - He was a game scout.

- Yes. - When I grew up,

I liked to be like him. - Of course.

- But life changes. - Yes.

Now I'm a train driver.

I have two daughters.

I don't know about them. - Yes.

But I want for them to go to school.

Then after that, they will decide what to do.

The world you grew up in is different

to the world they're growing up in.

Yes.

That's development.

Look, the kids are waving.

They love it, yeah.

- Sometimes they even ask us. - Yeah.

- How? - How do I do it?

Yes.

Yeah, Yasin, yeah, thank you, man.

Today, the TAZARA is only running at 2%

of the capacity it was designed for.

But even a rundown railway is still a lifeline

for those who live alongside.

Do you know what?

That explains why we're parked here.

I've got a new... this is called tam.

I went from selling tam to now I'm gonna buy one.

It's sweet, yeah.

I've been on board for 30 hours now.

But today, the train has only managed half its normal route.

We're stopping at Tunduma on the border with Zambia

In the morning, I'll be finding another way

to complete my journey to the Copperbelt.

But now, it's time to find a bed that doesn't rock.

At sunrise, I'm finally crossing the border

into Zambia at a town called Nakonde.

It's one of the busiest entry points

into this country of more than 20 million people.

The corridor's architects plan

to build a brand new rail line here, connecting this town

to Angola's West Coast 2000 miles away.

It'll be the biggest greenfield rail expansion

in Africa in 30 years.

But until then, I'm going to have to rely on the roads.

Luckily, I'm at the start of Zambia's Great North Road,

which takes me all the way to the Copperbelt.

But to take on a great road,

I'm going to need some great wheels.

I'm meeting the rest of my filmmaking team

who've come up with a neat solution.

- This is yours. - That one's mine?

Ah, these are so nice.

- Yeah. - Am I ready

to drive 3000 kilometres across Africa in these bad boys?

Yes, I am.

This is where the Lobito Corridor at the moment starts.

This is where our journey

towards the Lobito port officially begins.

Wow!

Zambia, famous for breathtaking natural beauty

and incredible wildlife, and home

to one of the seven natural wonders of the world:

Victoria Falls.

But behind the beauty is Zambia's mining industry,

the backbone of this country's economy since

well before its independence from Britain in 1964.

In fact, mining is at the heart

of this country's origin story.

The country we know today as Zambia was born during

a much earlier scramble for Africa's resources.

Back in 1885, the squabbling European empires sat down

in Berlin to divide Africa between them.

There were no Africans at the table.

The question of who would control

the Central African Copperbelt was hotly contested.

Both Britain and Belgium put forward a claim,

and after more than two decades of arguing, in 1911,

a man named Sir Stewart Gore-Browne was sent

to settle the border once and for all.

The line he drew still marks the border between Zambia

and the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.

After his job was done, Sir Stewart stayed on in Africa

and built a home that's still standing, Shiwa Ngandu.

I've come to meet his descendant, Jo,

who can tell me more about how the race

for copper birthed the nation.

So this is the beginning of the boundary commission

and the carving up of Africa, really.

So, Sir Stewart left England.

He trained as a surveyor with the army.

And then this is the boundary commission

with the Belgians putting in the boundary between

what is now the Congo and Zambia.

Yes.

So this is how the boundaries were made.

- Yes, indeed. - They would climb up a hill

and they'd build it with hay.

- Yes. - And then they'd set light

to it and read it

from another hill. - That side.

- Yeah. - Oh, wow.

Sir Stewart was given the second Zambian passport.

Kaunda, our first president, was given the first.

In 1956, Kaunda, who had been born in the area,

came to him and said, look, I can't deal

with the African National Congress.

There's too much incentive for violence.

We want a quiet transition to independence.

And so the constitution for the country was written here

by Sir Stewart and Kaunda.

- When you say here? - In the house.

It was written in this house?

Yeah.

- Wow. - Yeah.

Can I just say, this is better than any museum

I've ever been to. - It's beautiful, isn't it?

And this is a chief bed.

So put your head, sort of the, back down a bit, there you go.

Oh, okay.

Oh, actually. - Fantastic, isn't it?

It feels like it is ergonomically designed for me.

No, it's designed for me.

And you put your family treasures in here.

Oh, so it's right by your head.

It's right by your head, so.

Just lying there. - I think I've found

my new favourite part of the house.

If I've got a sore back, I get on that and I'm done.

- Oh, this is heaven. - You can sleep there.

Can I? Thank you.

What do you know about the Lobito Corridor?

This is something that we've been following.

The whole of the East Coast of Africa

has got tremendous wealth because of the ports.

You know, you've got Mombasa,

all the way down, you've got Dar es Salaam.

The West Coast has got very little.

- Yes. - We're quite in touch

with the people who are doing these rehabilitation projects

to put in roads, to put in ports, to put in runways.

- Yes. - And airstrips.

And make sure that there's people to service them.

That there's gotta be something for them to do.

Do you see this new race

for the natural resources as being possibly the answer or?

Well, I think it's being driven by the Chinese,

you know, for perhaps not the right reasons.

The Chinese have made things like gold and cobalt and,

you know, all of those things really, really sought after.

And it's a quick buck.

As you drive south now, you will see

there are a lot of mines on the side of the road

that are popping up, and they're just pumping

filthy effluent into the sky.

That there's accountability here.

You know, good governance

is becoming a priority in everything.

And I think that's why Zambia's got

a huge amount of investment.

You know? People are looking to Zambia.

Looking back at that,

it's almost like looking back in time.

- Yeah. - But equally,

there is so much happening in there

that's created the Zambia of today, that's helped.

- It's a little buzz. - It really is.

- Great place. - Jo, it's been

an absolute pleasure.

And travel safe, and I hope you enjoy the rest

of the country, which you will.

- I will do. - Yeah.

I will do.

I'm gonna miss this place. - The road gets better.

- Let's hope it does. - Okay.

- See you later. - Go safe, bye.

After meeting Jo,

I can see how history is repeating itself.

Today's race for Africa's riches

is just the latest chapter in a very long story.

A story in which outsiders have often benefited

at Africa's expense.

But this time round, just like Jo said,

it could be landlocked Zambia that has the most to gain.

With the old TAZARA Railway falling to pieces,

today 90% of Zambia's copper exports

are forced onto congested roads like this one,

headed to ports in East and Southern Africa.

Another petrol station.

One thing I don't have to worry about

is running out of petrol anywhere in this region.

The Lobito Corridor could open up a much faster,

cheaper way out to hungry Western markets.

A real boost to mining communities

that have been struggling in recent years.

To understand what it's been like

to live through the hard times, I've come to Kitwe,

a town built on mining.

Look, there's kids selling slingshots.

I remember these when I was a kid.

I'm so tempted to buy one right now.

My guide to Kitwe is Chomba, a miner turned comedian

who was born here in the good years.

I lived here late '70s.

Then when my mom got promoted, we moved to the city,

'cause you know we're going by grade.

- Yeah. - So if you're lower grade,

you here, and then when you get promoted,

you go into another compound.

- Okay. - Which is

slightly bigger houses.

Go to a house that's got a toilet inside.

- Yeah. - And then showers inside.

I would've been lower grade.

'cause where I was born in Jamaica,

we had a toilet outside.

I can see it's busy.

It's like businesses, bars, restaurants.

Yeah, after the pruning, the mines couldn't afford

to employ everyone because they downsize production.

- Okay. - So most of them lost jobs.

So now the entrepreneurship came into light.

Like, now people want to be entrepreneurs.

Some of them are still working in the mines.

How far is the mine from here?

You can actually even see the head there.

Oh, is that what that is?

- Yeah. - Hello.

You haven’t gone to school?

Isn’t it school today?

No, no, it’s not.

After Chomba left the mines in 2007,

he became a full-time comedian and scriptwriter.

It feels like an unusual career change.

Tell me about that.

How do you pick up the arts living here, man?

What we had then...

- Yeah. - Is that

almost every community had either

a theatre house or a cinema hall.

They built the cinema, they built the recreational centres.

They looked after the entire community.

- The schools. - Yeah, yeah.

We lost quite a lot of community spaces.

The football grounds where we used to play football.

- Yes. - They were sold off

as plots and churches were built there.

- Oh, yeah. - This was just green,

just a field.

On a weekend like this,

there'd be a huge festival of cultured dancers here.

Okay.

Different from different tribes.

When it was privatised,

the new owners didn't really have anything

to do with the community.

So now the community basically looks after itself.

Oh, I love this, underground.

That's such a London thing.

Pub and grill.

You get the UK influence wherever you go.

Yeah, yeah, because we were basically colonised

by the British.

So there's a lot of influence from them.

Well, I went to a mine school.

I played rugby, I played soccer, I played volleyball.

I was swimming.

There's a swimming pool at the school?

Yeah, yeah.

What you described sounds really modern.

It sounds like you had everything you could hope for.

And it's all gone now.

All I can see is many people here who are struggling.

Doesn't it feel like...

maybe things have gone backwards a bit?

Yeah, yeah.

When I go back in time and see what we had then

and I look at now, sometimes I feel like crying.

- Really? - Because now,

it's like a war zone.

Sometimes I feel a sense of survivor's guilt,

because I grew up in a place which was tough.

And because I was lucky enough to build a life after that,

I feel a bit guilty about the people who work.

Do you feel that as well as I do?

Yes, yes, yes.

Especially for the youngsters now,

because they don't have the right to play,

because they've got no space to play.

The mines coming back in full throttle.

If they're given opportunity

to look after the communities and so forth,

I think maybe we can get back to where we were.

There's more demand now.

Do you think that's a good thing?

Because more demand maybe means more money, more jobs.

I think the key word is negotiation.

How do they come in?

Are they just gonna come and get the copper

or are they gonna leave something behind?

This is my friend.

So Webby worked for the mines as well.

For 35 years.

- 35 years? - Yeah.

I moved from a smaller house...

- Yes. - to a bigger one.

And eventually a bigger.

When he wasn't down the mines,

Webby had a side hustle, touring with some

of the biggest ambient rockers of the 1970s.

The good days might have faded, but the music lives on.

♪ Hotel California ♪

Yeah!

♪ Anytime of year, you can find us here ♪

Hello, Hi.

anyone speak English?

You speaking, where did you learn English?

At school.

You speak it very well, what's your name?

- Grace. - Grace?

What do you do in school?

I'm learning.

- You learn to read. - Yes.

Write?

What are you going to do when you're older?

Be a pilot.

You're gonna be a pilot? What?

Can I get a high five for that?

All of you are gonna be footballers.

Yes!

Who's the best footballer here?

You're the best, you're the best.

I wanna see how you play.

This is the team? Show me.

Okay, oh, he's not dropping it.

This feels like a whole school full of kids

and we're in a pub garden.

Jamaica versus Zambia.

Oh no, you can't put the weight

of a nation on my shoulders.

So I'm doing this for all the Jamaicans and the Brits.

You got a little something, tell me you caught that.

I'm starting to see how mining in Zambia

is about more than just jobs.

It's about the communities those jobs create.

If the Lobito Corridor can help revive the industry here,

who knows what these guys could achieve.

With all this going on right now,

where do you see the future of Zambia?

Obviously, the linkage between Zambia and Congo

and Angola never really existed.

- Right. - And perhaps maybe

the rail track movement, it will ease the other trade.

Everything comes by road,

because before everything was going by rail.

- Yes. - But then rail sort

of started getting abandoned because maintenance and stuff.

Now if we have a link to the ocean, we basically have a link

to the outside of the continent,

to the east and to the west.

It makes life easier for us.

These Copperbelt communities have

clearly seen better days.

But I can feel an energy here

that new investment could build on.

We are in the heart of the Copperbelt region.

Lots of industry over the side there,

you can see all these, what looks like factories.

And that's exactly what's happening near Chililabombwe,

close to the border with the DRC.

I've come to meet the team at Kobold Metals Africa.

This US-owned company has the mining world buzzing.

They're harnessing the power of AI

to transform how we hunt for copper.

And with support from billionaire US investors

like Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos,

they just might be onto something.

I'm hoping KoBold Zambian CEO, Mfikeyi Makayi,

can help me learn the basics.

- Welcome. - Thanks.

It's all happening here, isn't it?

Yes, this is our exploration site.

Kind of, like, 100 years ago,

explorers would look at a rock on the surface and say,

we think this is copper sulphide or a copper oxide.

Because we know everything that's been discovered.

And with the advent of technology,

we need to drill deeper to find it.

So what we have here is an exploration machine,

a drill rig that drills literally

into the bowels of the earth.

You can see that it's a hollow rod.

- Yes. - And we pull

the core out of it.

Are these from this hole here?

Yep, 1,747 metres.

Basically, one understands where it is, how it is shaped,

how it is behaving, how it was formed.

Because how it was formed also helps us understand

how will we design this mine to extract it economically.

The drillers are advised, after we are done

with say this hole, they're advised

where they're gonna drill next.

Right.

This is gonna be a mine

that will have more than 300,000 tonnes

of copper in production.

Now we gotta figure out

how to get it out of this part of Central Africa,

which is why trade routes become important.

As an explorer, I have to take interests.

I love that you said that, you're an explorer,

because I work under the title of explorer Dwayne Fields.

Yeah.

You're actually doing day-to-day exploration.

Yeah, and we're looking at the market.

So for Zambia, I'm a Zambian.

It matters to me what happens

to transform this country's economic situation

and the region as well.

So we have six drill rigs here at Mingomba.

- One there. - One there.

Two, there's a third.

- There's one there. - Fourth.

And there are two on the other side here.

Wow, do you know how big it is?

We are still drilling it.

We haven't found its limits.

Mingomba will be a mine for more than 40 years.

It will be one of the largest mines in Africa.

And we have all our geologists here.

When you design an underground mine,

you need to know how the rocks were,

how they were layered, at what angles they were layered.

And you can see, what does this say, 30?

It says 30 degrees.

So 30 degrees and then 336.

Where's your north?

You're an explorer.

Sun's coming from that way.

Okay.

North is that way.

- Yeah. - Roughly.

So your 336 degrees would've been somewhere-

- Would've been- - Somewhere here.

- There. - And this is how

this part of this actual rock-

Would've been pointing that way-

Would've been pointing

millions of years ago when it was formed.

And that's critical in mine development,

mine design and shaft sinking.

- Yeah. - And when you see

the shiny stuff, that's the copper mineral.

So, ours is a special copper mineral,

because it has a high content of copper metal in it.

So that's quite special. - Wow!

- And it's the highest grade. - Am I allowed to hold it?

- 80% in weight. - Feel the weight?

This is really heavy, yeah.

80%, it runs all the way through.

The higher the grade, the better it is to mine,

because you need less material to get the copper.

- Exactly. - Less time, less waste.

- Yup. - Which means less impact

on the environment around us as well.

So that's what we're aiming for.

- Yeah. - And less, lower cost

of production. - A lower cost of production.

The information that we've just spoken about

is what they're inputting into the laptops.

- Yeah, yeah. - To build up your information

that you feed into your AI software.

- Yes. - Yeah.

To then build up a picture

of what's happening on the ground.

The Lobito Corridor is only just getting going,

but US companies like Kobold are already betting big

on its potential.

And with a high-tech approach

and led by a homegrown team, this does feel different

to how things were done in the past.

Thank you for showing me around.

It's been an absolute pleasure.

Thank you.

I'm back on the road,

heading to the third country on my journey,

Democratic Republic of Congo.

This country is vast, about the same size as Western Europe.

It's also home to the lion's share of the Copperbelt

concentrated in the region historically known as Katanga.

Alongside Zambia and Angola, the DRC has been pushing hard

for the Lobito Corridor.

Approaching the border, you can see why. Like Zambia,

the DRC relies on these gridlocked roads

to get its copper out to the world.

Kasumbalesa is one of the busiest border crossings

in Africa.

Billions of dollars of copper pass through here every year...

very slowly,

The queues stretch back five miles

on each side.

Some trucks wait 10 days to cross.

Luckily, our cars can squeeze through much faster.

Now I'm officially in Democratic Republic of Congo.

Bonjour, DRC.

- Look carefully. - Man, hide your phone,

there is...

The atmosphere here is tense.

He's looking, he's looking.

The DRC's share of the Copperbelt

is 2000 miles away from the capital.

And because of its mineral wealth,

it's always been a flashpoint.

Just days after Congo gained independence

from Belgium in 1960, armed separatists backed

by Belgian mining interests tried to break away.

The uprising failed.

But even today, this region is closely guarded

by the central government with checkpoints every few miles.

We are on route to go and find out

what the difference Lobito Corridor's gonna make

to this part of Africa.

And if the people on the ground

are ever gonna feel any of the benefits of it.

This railway tells me we arrived on track.

As we reach the city of Kolwezi,

I'm finally at the heart of this story.

The Lobito Corridor, at its simplest,

is about taking the critical minerals being mined here

and delivering them more quickly

to the devices on which we all depend.

We're just outside of a town called Kolwezi.

And me and my team are the first camera crew

to ever be granted access to this mine.

It's the third largest copper mine in the world.

You might not know it,

but copper is everywhere in our modern lives.

One smartphone contains 15 grammes,

one laptop, about 1500.

One wind turbine, almost five tonnes.

And this country in the heart of Africa could soon be

the biggest exporter of copper globally.

Now I want to see how it gets out of the ground

and into our pockets.

I've come to meet the team at the Kamoa-Kakula copper mine.

It's one of the fastest growing in the world.

Hello, Dwayne, bonjour.

- Bonjour. - Morning.

- My name is Pontien. - Pontien?

- It's good to meet you. - Awesome.

A shirt for you, self rescuer, a red hat.

- And this is what? - And safety shoes.

You are ready to go.

Wow, this is a big operation.

So every time I turn a corner,

there's something else that's bigger than the corner

that I came to before.

Wow. - 60-ton Sandvik truck.

Tyres are taller than me.

Oh this is a big operation.

How far underground are we going?

We'll go 1.3 kilometres.

And we'll reach 200 metres, vertical.

But we go to the face where the action happens.

Wow, I can't say it's not a little bit daunting,

because it looks almost pitch black.

My goodness.

It's not like a round tunnel, is it?

The shape was chosen to get a stability

of this infrastructure for more than 50 years.

And we're only five years into it.

How many people work underground?

800 to 1000.

Per shift, 800 to 1000 people.

97% from Congo.

Mining job is one of the top jobs.

- Really? - In DRC, yeah.

This space is very good.

There is a tunnel down here.

I can see people working down to the right.

Yeah.

This is the crew doing mining activities here.

This is so cool.

Whoa! - This is a new face.

- Yes. - We're gonna drill holes

on each corner.

- On that grid? - On that grid.

So what's happening now?

So now he just drill the hole.

We've got a four-meter hole.

Yes, where-

We're gonna drill all corners

as shown on the grids.

- Yes. - And then

he's gonna drill the green points.

To put explosive here, you need a breakthrough point.

So that breaking point is the green point.

And then the rest will come out easily.

How many times do you blast in one day?

In one day, we blast one.

- Once a day. - Yes, we'll blast

at the end of the shift.

Okay, so.

Time to move on before the explosives come out.

This is blasted material.

So all of this has been blown out?

- Yes. - And it's ready to go up

to the surface? - Ready to go up

to the surface.

And how many of these ones

do we have working in the mines?

We work with 58.

- At any given time? - Yeah, any given time.

That's one for every new face.

New, exactly.

So we are approaching the tipping point.

The process of reducing size start here.

So 20 metres below us,

there is a discharge point on the belt.

- Wow! - Let's go down.

So it falls into here?

Every five minutes, there is a crop on top.

That's more regular than buses in London.

Yeah, the future life of this material,

it will be in electrical batteries,

it will be in copper wire.

It will be in our cell phone.

And this will be in a far away place.

China, America, Europe, Africa, who knows?

Let's follow the copper out.

Can we jump on that one and ride it up?

No, no, no, unsafe. - Unsafe.

I will not allow that.

Once the copper is blown out and crushed,

it's brought to the surface to be refined further.

If you thought the operation underground was big,

take a look at this.

Here's Mr. Dodo, Dodo is the-

- Hi. - Thank you for having us.

Nice to meet you.

I'm in charge of all the concentrators.

Those are the heart of Kamoa.

Everything coming from the mining,

and it gets reduced to powder like talc.

- Like talcum powder? - Yes.

And from here we add some chemicals.

So most of the copper- - Oh, my goodness,

yeah, I can see underneath us.

So we're over a big tank right now?

Yes, on all of those tanks, it's copper floating

on the top, by adding oil

and some alcohol. - Alcohol.

And how much are you producing every day?

- 1,400 tonnes of copper. - 1,400 tonnes.

Tonne of copper a day.

And on a monthly basis, 50,000 tonne of copper.

50,000 tonnes of copper in a month?

Every tonne mined here goes on to shape the world we live in.

From the smallest smartphone chip

to the electric car taking you to work.

This is the final product.

Now it contains 50% copper

and it's the final product ready to be shipped.

So now it's gonna go on the back

of one of these trucks.

Yes, that can take 18 barrels,

which is 36 tonnes.

$180,000 of copper

on this truck. - Exactly.

Don't mention the price because-

I'm gonna stop doing that.

You'll get ambushes out front.

Standing here surrounded by thousands of tonnes of copper,

it's not surprising to learn

the team here are big supporters of the Lobito Corridor.

Currently, trucks, they're going to Dar es Salaam,

they're going to Durban, which is 3000 kilometres from here.

So we'll put the railway coming to the plant.

You plan to put a railway coming to the plant?

We plan to do that.

How many trucks will one train remove off the road?

On a daily basis, we send out something like 100 trucks.

So 100 will be in one train.

But when you send out 100 trucks,

that means 100 trucks have to come back.

So it's 200 journeys. - Exactly.

The operating cost will drastically drop,

because most of our cost comes from transportation.

So this bag, half of it is gonna be wasted

or burnt off during the smelting process?

During the smelting process.

Yes, that's correct.

So most of the smelters, they are out of the country.

Now, we are in the process

to put in the number two biggest smelter in the world,

which you'll see soon.

It's almost completed,

which will process 99.97% pure copper.

- That's almost pure. - Pure copper.

That's ready for any industry.

Any cables and all of the components.

- Medical purposes, anything. - Medical, everything.

So it's amazing to see from the rock face

to now this powder to it leaving to go

and become a TV or a circuit board.

Exactly, cable or...

The team here is already betting big on the corridor.

They've started building their own colossal copper smelter,

which can process half a million tonnes a year.

Oh, wow!

You really can see everything from up here.

That will be the heart of the smelter.

That way they will put copper.

Its more than 2000 degrees.

This is mind-blowing.

If you wanna form a well-rounded opinion on something,

- Yeah. - I think the best way

to go about doing that is to get a proper overview

of the whole process from start to finish.

- Exactly, yeah. - Because demand is so high,

all of this is necessary.

And demand is so high because we need to shift

to a more sustainable economy.

- More sustainable economy. - It's almost a necessary evil

now to safeguard the future.

Yeah.

Pontien, I can stay up here all day

and just watch the work go on.

Should we have a look at what's up there?

After spending the day inside this cutting-edge mine,

there's no denying that copper

is still a big, dirty industry.

But I can also see how mines like this are enormous engines

that can lift people out of poverty.

And our demand for what they're producing

is only going in one direction...

up.

Every single nation that's ever focused

on developing its infrastructure has advanced the GDP

of the population to some degree.

Now, I'm not saying it's gonna make every individual rich,

but it's gonna encourage more investment,

which increases prosperity, which then increase education,

which further increases prosperity.

The Lobito Corridor has the makings of something

that's gonna be good for the people

that live within its catchment area.

Earlier this morning, we were 200 metres underground

looking at the rock face.

And now I'm 90 metres up on top of the chimney

for the smelter that's gonna turn

this raw material into the copper as we know it.

We've travelled more than half the way across Africa,

but we've still got to keep heading west,

following the route that this copper is gonna take.

I am continuing my journey west towards Angola.

If you want to send copper from here to Lobito today,

this road is your best option.

I can see why Zambia and the DRC are pushing so hard

for a railway.

Oh, my God, did you see that?

The roads here are some of the worst I've ever seen.

Jesus Christ. - Big holes ahead.

But the potholes

and the dust aren't my only problems.

I'm entering some of the most hostile territory

on my journey.

Be careful, there is a huge hole

in between the two trucks, guys.

And don't stop too long

because those guys don't look so nice.

I've been warned that rebels

and bandits regularly target trucks on this road.

Big lorry ahead,

meant to be some kind of checkpoint.

Try and catch up with us if you can.

Bogus checkpoint, just drive straight through.

We need to get to a safe stopping point

before dark.

But hundreds of punishing miles

have finally taken their toll.

There is water leaking from our car.

Look, there's no water in there at all, bone dry.

It will run, but we need a mechanic.

So we're gonna try and top it up to keep it cool

and just take it easy as we go.

We still gonna have 100

or so kilometres of road like this to do.

Let's set up the camera.

Can you see all these flies around me?

It's amazing.

A bit thirsty, that's how dry it is out here.

The flies, as soon as you come out,

they sense the moisture.

They're all over you.

We're gonna take it easy to see how far we get.

We'll have to stop periodically.

You can see how quickly the light's fading.

Oh goodness.

The potholes here on epic.

Oh, that's the fixer's car gone.

This road is killing all our cars.

We're not gonna do 100 km for 35 minutes.

Driving through the night on a road like this,

you can't see the hazards.

It's dusty, there aren't any street lamps.

But it's not just bad roads we need to worry about.

This region has been plagued by internal conflict

ever since independence, driven by its mineral wealth.

In the '70s, this whole area was a battlefield.

Everyone moved out, no one really came back.

So now it's occupied mainly by rebels.

And as the light fades and I'm looking down the road,

every single vehicle that comes,

I start thinking, could this be an ambush?

Did you pass the guys with a 4x4?

Yes we did.

Are they still fixing it?

They seemed to be finishing up.

This place... because there are a lot of

bandits... they kill people in strange ways.

So it's better to go back to the last town?

He said that, no, this is a bad area.

There are armed guys who kill people, bandits.

And it's better to don't walk at night.

This is enough as information.

Is there a car mechanic in Mutshasha?

The young boys came at the right time

and told us that people have died on this road recently.

It's times like this you realise

you're really not at home.

We've got some officers coming.

Ah, they've got a camera there.

Oh no, no filming.

Oh, I'm sorry, Désolé.

We've just been moved on from

where we think we could have got the car fixed

by two really angry officers.

One with the AK-47

and a second one who was probably even more angry.

So we're grateful he didn't have a weapon.

We're going to another location

where we think there might be a mechanic that will help us.

What was that?

Someone's coming.

Waiting for the village mechanic to come by.

He started working on the car last night

and it got dark, got late.

I think it was a bit more work than he planned for,

and he promised he'd be here.

Initially, it was 6:30.

Goat just kicked me in my balls.

It's now going on eight o'clock.

It's our mechanic, Papa John.

- Ca va. - Luckily, these cars

are designed to be fixed in the middle of nowhere.

This hose here, this one needs to come out as well

because that goes into the...

Even with my terrible French, I've worked out

that this man, Mehdi, he's a locomotive driver.

Today's his day off and he's come out to help us.

Where do you drive it?

I go from Kolwezi to Dilolo.

You don’t go to Angola?

I also go to Angola.

Luau.

Have you ever gone as far as Lobito?

As far as Luau.

And what happens at Luau? Is there another train?

Yes, there's a train in Angola that picks up

the goods in Luau and takes them to Lobito.

There are two a week.

Only two trains?

For now, the train Mehdi drives only goes

as far as the Angolan border.

But one day soon, the Lobito Corridor should connect

this region directly to the sea.

Ah, yes.

Hopefully, that will keep Mehdi so busy,

he won't have to moonlight as a mechanic.

There's no leaking.

Hands free.

Thank you.

Engine sounds fine.

These guys did an awesome job, let's go.

Thanks to Papa John, our car is running as good as new.

It's a relief to be back on the road.

You have more bad road coming ahead.

If you can call it a road.

We're making our way slowly to the Angolan border.

We have just crossed into Angola.

We left Congo where we went from one room

to the next to the next, speaking with one official

to another and then onto another.

And it just seemed to be a lifetime

of conversations with very little progress.

And we are now officially in Angola.

I've reached the final stage of my Trans-African journey.

Angola has been the driving force

behind the Lobito Corridor,

working with successive US administrations

to make this dream a reality.

The corridor could be a much needed boost

for Angola's economy, but it could also help close

a dark chapter in its history.

For 400 years,

the Portuguese controlled this corner of Africa.

It became a keystone in the transatlantic slave trade.

But when the colonisers left in 1975,

Angola was torn apart by a brutal civil war.

It quickly became a proxy cold war.

The US backed one side, the Soviets the other.

The conflict lasted 27 years,

claiming almost a million lives.

The scars are still visible today,

but the invisible scars are the worst.

What does 'desminagem' mean?

Demining.

Almost 15 million mines were laid during the war.

And even though it ended in 2002,

thousands of Angolans across the country

have been killed or injured since then.

Our fixer has warned us not to stray more than a few metres

from the road.

To understand the scale of the issue

and what can be done about it,

I've come to meet the team from the HALO Trust,

a leading demining charity who've been working here

for the last 30 years.

Here in BA Province, they're making it their mission

to clear a safe path for the Lobito Corridor.

Sorry we're late.

It's been a long, long journey.

Tonight, we're bedding down in the HALO camp.

At first light, I'll get to see these heroes in action.

The next morning after an extra strong coffee,

it's time to meet the team.

It’s good!

Thank you.

What made you want to work for the HALO Trust?

For the passion

to free our country.

To free our country.

And do you live locally?

- No, no. - No.

- Benguela. - So you leave your family?

How long did they spend here? Yes, yes.

- Two months. - Two months.

And then go back.

They go back and for maybe two weeks

they come back.

Yeah, yeah.

That's a big sacrifice.

What was the training like?

The training’s fine.

It's a little scary.

But the first time...

it was scary because we realise the damage a mine could cause.

At first you feel that fear.

And later on, we get along and

we'll be able to get things done.

Yeah, yeah.

Thank you, thank you for speaking to me.

On our way to the front line,

it doesn't take long to grasp what's at stake here.

Look down here.

So, down here, we can see the children playing.

What impacts do the mines have on these children?

I’ve heard of deaths, amputated limbs.

This place is safe now.

Where's the dangerous part?

The dangerous part starts after the school.

Body armors, got some Kevlar in it

to stop any projectiles.

If there is an explosion,

it should protect the vital organs.

Ready? - Yeah, it's ready.

In 30 years, the HALO team has cleared

100 million square metres of land,

uncovering thousands of landmines.

Only once these areas are declared mine-free

can people finally escape the long shadow of war.

So this lane is all done by full excavation.

You can see basically where the ground has been turned over

and anything beyond this point is uncleared.

And you see just over there.

Oh, my goodness.

What is that, a rocket or some...?

It's more likely a missile.

So that's just landed there.

It hasn't detonated, it hasn't blown up.

No, so these types of UXOs, 30% won't detonate.

The failure rate is that bad.

3 out of every 10 won't blow up.

We've just passed 30, 40 kids.

- Yeah. - Just walking up here.

Yeah, two nights ago when we were brought an item

in the camp, it was because an older person

had seen kids playing with a warhead.

They were trying to hit it to get whatever it was inside.

- What was inside. - This 30% kills more

than the 70% that goes off.

I can't imagine at home

my kids bringing me a warhead or going out back

and you know, a plane with a rocket.

And I'm stood here and I'm just looking at one

that looks like it was dropped there yesterday.

Yeah, and we'll get cattle walking

through the minefields.

Yeah, I can see the evidence.

I mean, look here, there's another RPG shell.

There's one and it looks intact.

Yeah, mortar.

- Have you seen that? - Yeah.

That would have explosives in it.

They are literally just scattered.

Here, there's an old FAPLA government troops base.

- Yes. - It was then taken over,

invaded by UNITA who then left it and mined the area

to prevent anyone coming back in.

Booby trapping it.

So I can get a taste of what it's like

to work with the HALO team,

I'm visiting a training patch

where all the explosives have already been cleared.

Even though I know this patch is completely safe,

it's still a nail-biting experience.

And what material is this?

- Cordura. - Cordura.

Yeah, it's tough.

So that'll save you losing any fingers

if the mine were to go off.

Okay, and I can just kneel down here.

From bottom top.

- Bottom to top? - Yeah.

- Oh, from here? - Yeah.

- How much do I go? - Little.

Slowly, slowly.

- I'm working. - From one side

to another one, from the bottom to top.

I'm not sure if I'm doing this properly,

but I'm telling you one thing, my nerves.

Were you nervous the first time you did this as well?

You're clearly bolder than I am.

After having training, you’re not scared anymore.

You are a very brave man, sir.

He's the paramedic.

He's the paramedic as well.

Yeah, he's a demining paramedic.

Ah, wow.

Thank you so much.

As my time with the HALO team comes to a close,

I'm humbled by the bravery they bring

to this job day in, day out.

They've left me with an awful lot to think about.

Thank you for having us.

Sorry we showed up so late last night

and ruined all your sleep.

I didn't have anything prepared,

but I wanna say a few words if that's alright?

I've been really fortunate that I've got to come here

to meet you guys and see the work that you do.

When we use the word hero in the UK where I live,

we're quite frivolous with it.

We throw it out there,

we use it for a lot of different things.

But the truth is, I think people like you

or people who do what you guys do are the heroes.

Because you go out there and you are actively changing

the outcome for lots and lots of people.

Every mine that you remove and every mine

that you detonate in the field is saving and changing lives.

So thank you, 'cause you're all actual real-life heroes.

Thank you, thank you.

Before we leave, Seb has one more sight

he wants to show me.

You can imagine this being one

of the biggest tourist attractions in any country.

- No, of course. - And here it's silent.

Why is it so quiet?

Just no one makes it out here.

The roads are too bad from Cuito.

And that's due to also the threat

of the mines on the roadsides.

- Yeah. - It's preventing development.

Tourists aren't making it out here because-

The risks, the risks are great.

The risks.

Our work is reinstalling that faith.

Yeah.

We started in 1994

and we're coming into that twilight period now,

and it feels great to see it through.

What do you think the Lobito Corridor means

for people who live in the places that you operate?

I think it's massive in the fact

that it means the free movement of people.

They can visit families, they can sell their goods.

We've got the most fertile land here in Bié.

- Yeah. - You put a seed down

and it'll grow.

There's the best honey in the country.

- Yeah. - In Munhango.

And that just stays there.

There's no transport.

It can't make its way to the big cities.

And build a road here,

we'll see some huge development.

Yeah.

I'm leaving HALO with a better understanding

of what good infrastructure can really do

and a deeper appreciation for those dedicating their lives

to making it possible.

Thanks to HALO, the final leg of my journey

to Lobito is going to be much easier and safer.

As the finish line of my adventure approaches,

I'd like to end the same way I began, back on the rails.

At the heart of the Lobito Corridor project is a plan

to revive a crown jewel of African infrastructure,

the Benguela railway.

The Americans weren't the first to figure out

that a rail link connecting the Copperbelt

to the port of Lobito was a smart move.

The Portuguese thought the same thing back in 1903

when they ruled Angola as a colony.

By 1929, the Benguela railway stretched almost 1200 miles

all the way to Southern Congo.

But during the carnage of the civil war,

1200 miles became just 20.

At war's end, Angola first turned to China

to help rebuild parts of this famous old line.

But with China's influence fading

and so much more railway to build,

in 2023, Angola signed a new partnership

with the DRC, Zambia, the US and the EU.

The Lobito Corridor was born

and the old Benguela railway is coming back.

After driving more than 2000 miles

on some of the toughest roads in Africa,

the team at the newly named Lobito Atlantic Railway

have laid on a special engine just for me.

My new train, Rob.

Ah... can we get straight on?

As much as I love those cars, this is a much nicer form

of transportation, especially at this stage of the journey.

Just smooth sailing.

Straight from A to B.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

Blow it again.

Since leaving Dar es Salaam almost a month ago,

I feel like I've been following an idea.

Now it feels real.

The Lobito Corridor could be just the lift Angolans need.

After decades of war,

almost a third still live in extreme poverty,

surviving on less than $2 a day.

Who knows what opportunities a fully functioning railway

could bring to the people who live alongside it.

And the railway is just the start.

The US and its partners plan to invest billions

of dollars in clean energy, food security

and digital infrastructure projects

that will run right alongside.

Can smell the salt in the air.

The last stop in our journey

after a month on the road, 4,000 kilometres,

we're finally here at Lobito.

That might as well say, Dwayne, you've arrived.

I can see cranes for the port.

That's where I meet the ambassador.

I think I'm gonna change my shirt.

My journey along the corridor has left me

with so many questions.

So I'm headed to the newly refurbished Lobito port

to put them directly to someone who should have the answers.

Tulinabo Mushingi, the outgoing US ambassador to Angola.

- Dwayne. - Mr. Ambassador.

- Good afternoon. - How are you?

Good to see you.

Welcome to Lobito.

Thank you so much.

This is why I came all the way...

- All the way... - From the east coast

to here. - Yeah, this is it.

This is the end of the train line.

Exactly.

This is where it's loaded or unloaded.

Yeah, indeed, we are impressed.

And everything that's extracted

along the corridor, along the Copperbelt,

will come here and head west.

Will head west

to markets, - Whether To Europe

or to markets in the US.

To the US, yeah.

All these people are learning how to do these things,

operating all these machines.

I get excited when I talk about

the Lobito Corridor.

It's the beginning of a big project here, yeah.

It's hot, let get out the sun.

- Yeah. - And let me get you

a drink, come on. - Okay.

Thank you very much, yeah.

Ambassador Mushingi isn't your average US ambassador.

He was actually born in the Congo

back when it was still a Belgian colony.

Now an American citizen,

he's representing his new home

on the continent in which he was born.

To me that makes his perspective even more interesting.

It feels like something's bubbling underneath the surface

that's waiting to mushroom.

The potential here is great.

And my job is to position the USA as the go-to partner.

You mentioned investment from China.

How does that differ from the investment

that's coming from the US?

I am here to promote the US model.

The minimum characteristics should include

at least transfer of technology.

- Yes. - Trying to share the knowhow

with the Angolans we're working with

so that they can do it themselves.

They know that if I invest in this,

it's good for the USA as well.

- Yes. - So we are both winning

even if I'm giving you the grant.

Inject in what we do the transparency so that you,

Angola and I, the US, we know what is in it

for each one of us.

And what is in it for the US?

What is in it for us?

What we all learned during COVID is that

if the supply chain is broken somewhere

around the world, all of us suffer.

- Yes. - All of us.

Imagine connecting the two oceans,

that's keeping that supply chain open

for the benefit of the whole world

and Angola and Congo and Zambia.

- And the US... yes. - And the US.

Yeah. And also we need to diversify these places

where you can process these materials.

And at the moment, that's mostly-

At the moment, it looks like China.

- The East, China. - Yeah, the East, yeah.

And we are hopeful that if they're going this way

either to Europe or to America,

that the processing plants in those areas,

who have access now to raw material

that they didn't have before, can up their game as well.

And I've met people who sell things

at the side of the train tracks.

They have no idea they will benefit

and when will they benefit from it.

As soon as they start taking the train and it works.

- Yes. - And it doesn't cost much

to get from Luau to Lobito,

- Yes. - they will say,

oh maybe this is the Lobito Corridor we're talking.

- Yes. - As soon as their mother

can come and sell something quickly,

as soon as health wagons stop

and people can come and see a doctor,

- Yes. - that's when

they will start to see.

And do you think the next administration

is gonna see the Lobito Project as a priority?

If anything, any initiative that a US government takes

benefits the American people, benefits the Angolan people,

benefits the world, chances, there are chances that

that initiative can survive administrations.

Let's hope it does, 'cause there's a lot of hope.

And on that note, thank you so much.

Thank you, sir, thank you very much.

A month ago, I set out from Dar es Salaam

to investigate a new battle taking place

for Africa's natural resources.

Along the way, I've witnessed an enormous

and complex supply chain that underpins our lives,

but one we so rarely get to see.

It's been hard to ignore the echoes of an age-old story,

one of outsiders competing

to exploit this continent's enormous wealth.

It's clear the US and its partners will benefit

from faster, safer access to critical minerals.

But perhaps this new scramble

might be one Africans can gain from too.

I've met people here working hard

to make this story their own.

And I've met many more who are excited

about the opportunities to come.

A month ago, I remember talking to Elsie

and we were talking about hope and what she wanted

for the future of her country, Tanzania.

And the entire journey, I think I've seen the same thing

from everyone I've met.

They've all wanted their country to be better, to do better.

And I think they all see trade

as a means to making that happen.

I don't think any of them know

for sure whether they believe in the Lobito Corridor

or not, I don't think that matters.

I think they're all hoping it works, one, for their nations,

but two, because they wanna believe

and they wanna hope that their families

and their next generation is gonna be better than the last.

When you see people doing that, you can't help

but want more for them.

They deserve a break

and maybe the Lobito Corridor is that break.

I think to be able to come back

and see how things have changed

after 7, 8, 9, 10 years,

once the Lobito project is in full swing,

I think that would be awesome.

Africa on the whole is probably one

of the most unique continents in the world.

It's got people who have extreme wealth.

Just look behind me.

It's got people who have next to nothing.

But the one thing it has by the truckload

is natural resources and hope.

And I think when you combine those two, the future's,

it's open, it's bright.