Nairobi, Feb. 4 -- The Congolese government says it has rectified a controversial mining deal it had signed with China, potentially upending what had looked like a source of bad relations between Kinshasa to Beijing.

The new deal, officials said this week, is a result of open negotiations with Beijing. It came 16 years after the two sides signed what the Congolese authorities had called "the contract of the century."

But since 2008, especially under the President Felix Tshisekedi administration, officials have often accused China's of exploitation, arguing they mined critical metals from the DRC without being compelled to give back to local communities.

On January 29, officials said the contract had been amended to provide specific obl...