The DRC President wants to renegotiate the mining contract of Mutanda Mining, a subsidiary of Glencore

The Democratic Republic of Congo has added Glencore’s subsidiary, namely Mutanda Mining (MUMI), to the ongoing process of renegotiating mining contracts.

The decision to investigate Mutanda comes as President Félix Tshisekedi makes no secret of his intention to review extractive deals made under his predecessor, Joseph Kabila. Already, the Presidency of the Republic is reviewing the copper and cobalt projects of Tenke Fungurume, a company controlled by China Molybdenum Co. and China Railway Group. It is in the same context that the recent agreement concluded between the DRC and the Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler for the case of Ventora took place.

“When you see what happened in this sector under the previous regime, it was outrageous in terms of the concessions given to foreign companies,” André Wameso, the president’s deputy chief of staff for economic issues, said on Thursday. an interview given to the media mining.com.

As the expiration of three of the four Mutanda permits approaches, the Presidency of the Republic has set up an ad hoc commission which will assess the benefits of the project for the DRC, Wameso confirmed in the same interview.

“This is an opportunity for us to see very calmly how things have been done and if there are any improvements in terms of rebalancing the partnership with Glencore,” he said. “We have nothing against Glencore,” Wameso said, adding that any rebalancing would be aimed at ensuring the “interests of the state are preserved.”

Congo’s mining code stipulates that miners must submit permit renewal applications only through the cadastre minier (CAMI) and the ministry of mines. The code also requires companies to surrender 5% of their shares to the state upon renewal.

According to the mining code of the DRC as part of a renewal of mining permits, the mining cadastre hands over the permit renewal file to the Minister of Mines, who has 30 days to accept or refuse it. If the Minister says nothing, then the permit is considered accepted. After that, the renewal must be registered by the cadastre.

In the case of Mutanda Mining, Glencore officials maintain that they have not been notified until then and are awaiting this notification with the expiry of the said permits.

Mutanda has not been officially informed of any ad hoc committee that would deal with his case for the presidency of the Republic, a Glencore spokesman said by email on Friday, mining.com reports.

Glencore confirmed in December that it planned to reopen Mutanda, which was put on care and maintenance in 2019 after cobalt prices fell. The operation will produce around 11,000 tonnes of cobalt per year between 2022 and 2025, with production over the 20-year mine life expected to average around 76,000 tonnes of copper and 21,000 tonnes of cobalt, according to Glencore.

Mutanda produced a fifth of the world’s cobalt and nearly 200,000 tons of copper in 2018, its last year of full production. The company restarted processing oxide ore stockpiles late last year as it explored the future exploitation of Mutanda’s sulphide resources, according to Glencore’s 2021 annual report.