Congolese Government to Unveil New Mine Laws Tomorrow
Cape Town, Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) -- The Democratic Republic of
Congo will tomorrow unveil changes to mining laws and investment
codes to accelerate the exploitation of some of the world's best
metal reserves, its vice minister of mines said.
The announcement comes after last month's assassination of
Congolese president Laurent Kabila and replacement by his
son Joseph Kabila. Mining company executives said at the time
that the death of Laurent Kabila could accelerate the development
of some of the world's best copper, cobalt and diamond deposits.
The changes have been made in a bid to halt the decline in
output of minerals, the Congo's biggest source of foreign
exchange, that has accompanied the country's slide into a civil
war and the collapse of the economy, said Ambroise Mbaka Kawaya,
the Congo's vice minister of mines, at a mining conference in
Cape Town.
``The Democratic Republic of Congo offers enormous mining
potential,'' said Kawaya.
Some of the world's biggest mining companies including Anglo
American Plc and Broken Hill Proprietary Co. have taken stakes in
projects that could result in mines being reopened or new
operations built in the Congo. South Africa's Iscor Ltd. is also
involved.
``It really will remove a serious stumbling block,'' said
Bernard van Rooyen, the Johannesburg-based managing director of
Canada's Banro Resource Corp., which is involved in a legal
battle to get control of concessions containing 13 million ounces
of gold that were nationalized by Laurent Kabila's government.
Laurent ``Kabila was too mired in the past to see things move
forward.''
This week, Joseph Kabila asked for the deployment of United
Nations troops in his country to help end a war that involves the
armies of at least five other African countries. He pledged to
hold free elections once peace is restored.
Kawaya said the DRC has reserves of 75 million metric tons
of copper, 4.5 million tons of cobalt, 600 tons of gold and a
host of other minerals. The DRC is the world's fourth-largest
diamond producer.
The announcement of the new laws will be made in a speech to
the conference at about 8:00 a.m. tomorrow, Kawaya said.
--Antony Sguazzin in Cape Town through the London bureau (44) 207
673 2095 or jhurdle1@bloomberg.net/jah |
