Democratic Republic of Congo‘s state mining company Gecamines said on Monday it would increase its stake in its Boss Mining joint venture with ENRC Africa Holdings to 49% after the two companies renegotiated terms.
The state miner is moving to increase its take from join ventures with international miners such as Glencore and China Molybdenum, which it accuses of not bringing enough money to the country.
Congo is Africa’s biggest copper and cobalt producer and also mines gold and diamonds, but it is one of the world’s least developed countries with an annual budget of roughly $5 billion.
In a statement on Monday, Geca mines said its share in Boss Mining would rise to 49% from 30%, while ENRC’s stake would fall to 51% from 70%t.
A Boss Mining debt of $1.5 billion towards ENRC – a subsidiary of Kazakh group Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation – has also been cancelled, and the signing bonus payable by ENRC to Geca mines was raised to $165 from $35 per tonne of copper and copper equivalent, the statement said.
Boss Mining exported over 17,000 tonnes of copper over the first six months of 2018.
Geca mines signed a production-sharing deal for copper and cobalt deposits with China Hongkong Excellent Mining Investment last week, its first production-sharing deal for copper and cobalt deposits
