Tag Archives: Democratic Republic of Congo

19 Mar

Congo Tamps Down Miners’ Expectations of Concessions on New Code

Miners operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo won’t secure substantial concessions in talks with the state about changes to the industry code, a senior mining official said.

Mining companies including Glencore Plc and Randgold Resources Ltd. are pressing the government to row back on some of the reforms President Joseph Kabila signed into law this month.

The modifications will raise taxes and other costs for operators in Congo, Africa’s top copper producer and the world’s main source of cobalt.

“There can be no renegotiation on any point once the code has been promulgated,” Albert Yuma, chairman of state-owned mining company Gecamines, said in an emailed response to questions on March 17.

Kabila met top executives from major foreign investors on March 7 to discuss their objections to the new law, which was approved by parliament in January.

The president signed the code March 9, but assured miners that “their worries will be taken into account” in talks with the government. Representatives of Glencore, Randgold, China Molybdenum Co., Ivanhoe Mines Ltd., MMG Ltd., Zijin Mining Group Co. and AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. attended the meeting.

The revised code removed a measure protecting mining-license holders from complying with changes to the fiscal and customs regime for 10 years. That means all mines face higher royalty payments and new taxes.

The new law also introduces a 50 percent tax on so-called super profits and hikes royalty rates on metals including copper, cobalt and gold. It also allows the government to raise royalty payments on cobalt five-fold to 10 percent if it opts to categorize the mineral as a “strategic substance.”

“The taxes and royalties to be paid have been fixed in the code by law,” said Yuma, who participated in the March 7 meeting. “No one can any longer change or remove them, or create new ones.”

The companies that met Kabila sent a team to the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, ahead of the talks with the Mining Ministry, according to a joint statement on March 15.

 

05 Feb

Culture Needs to Be `Less Alpha Male’: Africa Mining Update

Mining executives, investors and government ministers are meeting in drought-hit Cape Town for the African Mining Indaba, the continent’s biggest gathering of one of its most vital industries.

Recent multiyear highs for many commodities have the world’s biggest miners swimming in cash and new demand from electric vehicles mean once-overlooked metals like lithium and cobalt are grabbing the spotlight.

But it’s not all blue skies, as the industry grapples with regulatory changes and uncertainty in countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania, as well as host South Africa.

Here are the latest developments, updated throughout the day. (Time-stamps are local time in Cape Town.)

Mining Culture Needs to Be ‘Less Alpha Male’ (11:18a.m.)

The mining industry’s culture needs to become “less alpha male” and has a long way to go to create a workplace that includes women, said Mike Fraser, president and chief operating officer for Africa at Perth-based South32 Ltd.

From safety gear to facilities, the sector often doesn’t cater enough for women, he said. “Those kinds of conversations, whilst they are now emerging to the surface, are probably 20, 30, 40 years too late and I would say there’s still a significant amount of work we have to do.”

Ownership of South32’s South African energy-coal business will go beyond the government’s minimum requirements on black empowerment, Fraser said.

Rio’s Mines of the Future (10:45 a.m.)

Here’s a glimpse into how the world’s number two miner sees the future. Rio Tinto Group’s Bold Baatar, head of energy and minerals, said the company will be competing with the likes of Facebook Inc. and Google for workers as mining automation increases. Currently, two-thirds of Rio’s engineers are miners, but within a decade that number will be halved, he said.

He also echoed a popular point from the industry: governments often have too high expectations for the money to be made from mines and don’t factor in the costs.

Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-05/anglo-hopes-for-reset-button-in-s-africa-africa-mining-update