Nearly 2.8 billion USD would not have been paid to GECAMINES and the Congolese State by TFM and CMOC (DYFREN report)
The Dynamics of Women on Natural Resources (DYFREN) published, this Wednesday, August 31, 2022, in Lubumbashi, its report evaluating the fiscal and parafiscal obligations of Tenke Fungurume Mining SA, located in Lualaba, report published with the support of the Carter Center entitled: “No one is perfect”.
It reveals that the mining company TFM owes Gécamines and the Congolese Government nearly 2.85 billion dollars between 2009 and 2016. A study which focused on eight (8) fiscal and parafiscal flows to which TFM is subject. These are, according to this dynamic, the annual surface rights, the mining royalty, the professional tax on the transfers, the additional premium, the consultancy fees as well as the community social fund.
“The study has shown that TFM SA is one of the most important projects in the copper-cobalt sector with an area of 1,437 square kilometers and proven reserves in 2016 of 181,600,000 TCu. According to our estimates, the overall amounts unpaid to the Congolese State and GECAMINES on these flows are of the order of 2.85 billion US dollars”, can be read in the report published this Wednesday in Lubumbashi by the dynamics of women on natural resources .
And to continue:
“The study reveals significant discrepancies between the figures included in the debit notes of the mining division, the declarations made by the EITI-DRC, as well as the estimates of the dynamics of women on natural resources. These discrepancies could result from differences between the bases used for the calculation of this flow. In our estimates, we have used the turnover indicated in the financial statements of the successive parent companies of TFM, whereas the company relies on the adjusted amounts from the DRC project for its EITI reporting”.
This women’s structure also mentioned the tax on roads and drainage with, in particular, other significant discrepancies between what was paid and what was declared. There are at the same time, still according to this female structure specialized in natural resources, other flows on the additional royalty.
“Research has shown that proven and probable reserves in 2016 were much higher than those initially estimated. They were estimated at 181,600,000 Tcu in 2016 compared to 2,500,000 Tcu in 2005, an increase of 179,100,000 Tcu. from 2013 to 2016, Gécamines should have collected, for this flow, an amount of 2,964,831 USD paid in this respect. No other payment has been reported to date”, continues this bond valuation report fiscal and parafiscal duties of Tenke Fungurume Mining, a mining company based in the Katanga region.
Faced with all these major discrepancies and the money lost by Gécamines and the Congolese government, the Dynamique des femmes sur les ressources naturelles calls on the Congolese authorities to initiate the revision of the shareholders’ agreement, to order the DGRAD to make public the collection notes established for the payment of the mining royalty from 2009 to 2022, to retrocede the shares of the royalty due to the chiefdom of Bayeke for the period from 2009 to 2016 in accordance with the provisions of articles 242 of the mining code of 2022. She also called on the provincial government of Lualaba to abolish the collection of advances on the road and drainage tax as recommended by the General Inspectorate of Finance.
