DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
The Congolese government is aiming to retain at least 35% in all
future mining projects in order to improve national participation
and benefit more from its natural resources, a government official
told Dow Jones Newswires on Saturday.
An official with the state-run mining-licensing body, Cadstre
Minier, said that Congo's Ministry of Mines has drawn up guidelines
that will serve as a model for all future contracts, involving the
country's state-owned mining companies and private companies.
"The guidelines are only waiting government's approval," the
official said by telephone from Kinshasa, the Congolese
capital.
According to the official, the guidelines also stipulate that
private mining companies must pay at least 2.5% royalties on
minerals produced to state mining companies and pay signature
bonuses equivalent to 1% of the value of mineral projects. Private
mining companies operating in the country also must adhere to the
requirements of Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.
The model is expected to be approved before the end of the
year.
Since the late 1990s, Congo's state-owned copper/cobalt mining
company, Gecamines, has been privatizing most of its mining
projects to international mining companies and holds only minority
stakes in most mines in the country.
The Congolese government is embroiled in a contract row with
U.S.-based Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (FCX) over the
Tenke Fungurume Copper/Cobalt mine. Freeport has opposed Congo's
attempted to increase the stake of Gecamines, which holds 17.5% of
the project. The row has dragged on since 2007. Tenke Fungurume is
believed to host the largest unexploited copper and cobalt reverse
in the world, according to analysts.
Other state mining companies in Congo include gold mining
company Okimo and diamond-mining company Bakwanga Mining, or
Miba.
Congo is Africa's largest tin and cobalt producer and the
continent's second-leading copper producer after Zambia. The
African Copperbelt, which stretches from Congo's Katanga province
through northern Zambia, is believed to hold at least 10% of the
global copper reserves.
-By Nicholas Bariyo, contributing to Dow Jones Newswires;
256-75-2624615 bariyonic@yahoo.co.uk