WASHINGTON, March 29 (Reuters) - The United States

speaks regularly with the Democratic Republic of Congo's state

miner Gecamines, a senior State Department official told

Reuters, as Washington seeks to deepen relationships with key

suppliers of cobalt and copper across the African continent.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

Chinese aggressive investment across Congo, Zambia and

elsewhere in Africa - which holds massive supplies of minerals

used to make electric vehicles and other electronics - has for

some time raised concern in Washington.

Jose Fernandez, the U.S. State Department's under secretary

for economic growth, energy, and the environment, said in an

interview this week that conversations with Gecamines center on

supply deals and potential new mines or other projects the

company is considering. Conversations take place on average

every four to six weeks, he said.

The Mineral Security Partnership (MSP), a multinational

collaboration of more than a dozen countries and the European

Union to invest in a global supply chain, announced a deal with

Gecamines and Japan's JOGMEC in February. That deal was a

product of those conversations, Fernandez said.

KEY QUOTES

"Be it China or anybody else, it's just not good to have one

single supplier of anything," Fernandez said.

"(Host countries) do not want an investment system where

investors bring in their own workforce, do not clean up their

environmental damage. They've experienced that and that's not

what they want."

Fernandez declined to comment on whether the U.S. government

would seek to buy all or part of Canadian miner First Quantum's

Zambian assets. First Quantum has been seeking fresh

sources of cash amid an unrelated dispute with Panama's

government that closed one of the company's key copper mines.

CONTEXT

Fernandez said that the United States continues to work with

Zambia and Congo on mining and regulatory structures.

Despite Washington's efforts in recent years, the United

States has lagged behind China in securing access to minerals

across the African continent needed for the production of

products like EV batteries and solar panels.

Washington's goal is not to offset China's influence in

Africa's critical mineral sector but to diversify its own supply

chains and encourage African partners to boost their mining

standards, Fernandez said.