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» Anvil, First Quantum may lose Congo licenses
» Cash strain behind Congo license audit
» BHP Billiton proposes $3bn DRC aluminium smelter
» Anglo kicked tyres at $424m Katanga project
» Congo rubbishes CAMEC victory claims
» Brinkley hits back in DRC uranium fracas
» Nikanor steams ahead on KOV copper project

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Leaked DRC licence report perplexes miners
Allan Seccombe
Posted: Mon, 05 Nov 2007

[miningmx.com] -- MINING companies operating in the DRC said they are generally perplexed about the leaked report from a mining licence review panel that said none of the agreements was “viable” and about a third should be cancelled.

Katanga Mining, which is refurbishing its $424m Kamoto copper and cobalt project at Kolwezi, understands its licence has fallen into the B Category, which entails changes to the contract.

“It’s nothing that will economically impact our project. We are not overly concerned,” said Katanga’s Anu Dhir, the vice-president of corporate development.
It’s a complex situation
“However, we have to wait until we see the final official report,” she added.

Reuters reported on Sunday that none of the 61 licences reviewed by a panel was considered “viable” in their current form.

Citing the leaked document, the newswire said 37 contracts, including those with international firms Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold, BHP Billiton and Nikanor, needed renegotiating while the remaining 24 should be terminated.

"(The document) is the work of a subcommittee and is not the final version of the report. There still could be changes," the commission member told Reuters.

The report is said to have called for a 2004 decree authorising the creation of KMT Plc, of which First Quantum Minerals is the major stakeholder, to be repealed.

“There’s been no official announcement of any description,” said Clive Newell, president of First Quantum, pointing out the government had still to decide on a course of action once it had reviewed the panel’s recommendations.

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“It’s a complex situation because some of the licences are held by companies in which the government and Gecamines are shareholders,” he said. “It could take some time and I guess it’s going to be a drawn out process.”

“We’ll wait for the official announcement. There’s nothing we can do now. We don’t know what the problem is with the contract, if that (leaked) report is real,” he said.

First Quantum has just brought its Frontier mine in the DRC on stream and it is approaching full production.

“We’ll continue to be good corporate citizens, paying our taxes and royalties and wait and see what the outcome is,” Newell said.

The report said Anvil Mining's agreement over its Dikulushi mine be terminated. The Dikulushi project is wholly owned by Anvil.

Anvil said in a statement to the ASX that it had no comment to make on the report which has not yet been completed or officially made public.

AngloGold Ashanti, which is exploring for gold, is reserving comment until the official report is made public, said spokesman Steve Lenahan. “We know there’s speculation in Kinshasa about what the report says, but we certainly have not seen it.”