www.miningmx.com -- WHAT does the ‘promotion’ of Congolese mining official, Victor Kasongo, portend? That’s a question for Moto Goldmines, a Toronto-listed firm which has been locked in a long-standing duel with Kasongo. Kasongo, chosen recently as the DRC’s deputy mines minister, is also the outgoing CEO of Okimo, a state-owned gold company. The promotion to the ministry is thought to represent a “kick upstairs” for Kasongo, according to watchers of Moto Goldmines’ share price. They contest Kasongo lost the support of the Okimo board last year and Government has sensed the dislocation and acted upon it. Kasongo, however, insists he speaks for Okimo when he says Moto Goldmines will have to quit a lease area it was hoping to mine in the Kilo-Moto region of the DRC after it broke a covenant to invest in the region. Moto Goldmines has implied Kasongo’s opposition is a personally motivated one; certainly, he hasn’t the support of Okimo’s board, it says. A letter from Okimo’s chairman stating his less than enthusiastic support for Kasongo is in the possession of Moto Goldmines, the company says. Kasongo responds that the Okimo chairman is a non-executive, and has no power to make such judgements. The battle grinds on. Unless, of course, Kasongo has been neutered in his promotion to the higher echelons of Government? Much will depend on the strength of the new mines minister. You can’t discount the other option either: since Okimo is a state-owned institution, Kasongo could end up with even more power over the affairs of Moto Goldmines, particularly if he is allowed free rein. These matters were the subject of some fractious emailing between myself and Klaus Eckhof, CEO of Moto Goldmines, over the weekend. Eckhof construes Kasongo’s willingness to be quoted as Okimo’s principal representative as my prejudice. I should have shown Kasongo to be a pariah, argues Eckhof; and, in any event, Moto Goldmines has a perfectly good relationship with Okimo. To be honest, Kasongo’s claim that Moto Goldmines has not invested widely or quickly enough in the Kilo-Moto gold mining region is not out of line with the attitudes of other Congolese state-owned companies. Take Gecamines boss, Paul Fortin, who recently put out to tender the Kipushi zinc mine, an asset that First Quantum Minerals and South Africa’s Exxaro Resources were hoping to mine. The two companies complain that Kipushi was theirs to develop owing to a long-standing development agreement. But Fortin, like Kasongo, argues the two companies were tardy. The DRC wants rapid investment and, like 2004 South African empowerment laws, abhors sterilisation of resources, the national patrimony. The matter regarding Kipushi and Gecamines goes to the Belgian courts at the end of this week. Exxaro and First Quantum may rightly argue that developing the mine during the throes of civil war was virtually impossible. No such legal action has yet been launched between Moto Goldmines and Kasongo. But it’s clear from communication I’ve had with both sides that they are reserving their rights.