[miningmx.com] — THE Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has said Canadian miner First Quantum Minerals was guilty of conducting a “smear campaign” against the country, reported Bloomberg News citing the DRC’s ambassador to South Africa.
“I have never seen a company going against a host government in a smear campaign like this,” Bene M’Poko, the DRC’s ambassador to South Africa, told Bloomberg News.
M’Poko said he had been tasked by DRC president Joseph Kabila to negotiate on the matter.
The dispute between First Quantum and the DRC government relates to a review of mining contracts conducted by the country. This resulted in the attempted closure of one copper and cobalt mine developed by First Quantum, and the taking away of rights to two others.
First Quantum described these actions as an “orchestrated attack” on its more than $1bn worth of investments in the DRC and said the government’s objectives were questionable, Bloomberg News reported.
The dispute has raised questions about the safety of investments in the DRC and has threatened the country’s application for debt relief last week from the the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
However, Bloomberg News quoted M’Poko as having said the government was “not in the business of expropriating private assets”.
“They’ll be properly compensated but we haven’t reached that stage yet,” M’Poko said.
