Chinese firm regains control of DR Congo copper mine after agreeing to reach solution with government over royalty disputes
- China Molybdenum had its operations at the massive Tenke Fungurume mine suspended after it was accused of not declaring thousands of tonnes of reserves
- The government has now lifted the suspension after an agreement that should pave the way for it to receive higher payments in future
China Molybdenum (CMOC) has regained control of its massive Tenke Fungurume copper and cobalt mine after the Democratic Republic of Congo withdrew a case it had filed against the Chinese mining giant.
The two have agreed to settle their dispute outside court, saying they would appoint an “internationally recognised third party to conduct an assessment for a definitive solution” to their dispute over royalty payments, a move that will probably ensure more revenue for the DRC in future.
Gecamines, a Congolese state-owned commodity trading and mining company, which holds 20 per cent of the Tenke mine, had sued the Chinese miner, accusing it of withholding information and for not declaring thousands of tonnes of reserves at the site, a move that allegedly denied Kinshasa much-needed funds.
On February 28, a commercial court in Lubumbashi, the Congolese mining capital in the southeast, suspended the firm from managing the mine and appointed a third-party administrator to run the mine for six months with the “responsibility of reconciling the two parties on divergent issues, namely access to technical information as well as the determination of the rights of the parties”.
But on Tuesday, DRC Prime Minister Sama Lukonde suspended court proceedings against the Chinese mining company.