Katanga copper mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo. (Photo: Glencore). Congo’s Gecamines will implement new controls to “hold its partners accountable” in copper and cobalt projects, the state miner said on Tuesday. Gecamines’ partners on mining projects include Glencore, China Molybdenum and Ivanhoe. The company said it will initiate discussions with its partners soon. The move follows the preliminary results of audits which it said “indicate that Gecamines’ partnerships may have not been managed in the best interest of all shareholders, particularly the minority shareholder Gecamines”. A representative from the industry-led Chamber of Mines could not be reached for immediate comment. Congo, Africa’s top copper producer, saw production rise 15 percent in the first half of 2017, while cobalt production surged 27 percent. Gecamines is heavily indebted and has consistently failed to meet production targets, however. Since its heyday in the mid-1980s, it has sold off most of its assets and entered joint ventures with foreign partners. (Reporting by Aaron Ross; editing by Nellie Peyton and Jason Neely)
Gecamines, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s state-owned miner, will introduce new production-sharing rules in its partnerships with mining companies after a series of audits found they’re generating less revenue than expected. The audits, which are continuing, found that management practices at some of its main partnerships resulted in an “artificial minimisation” of the proceeds Gecamines received.