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Frontier SA SakaniaCopper Covid-19 Mining in DRC 

A DRC based NGO warns of risk of mass dismissal of more than 1200 miners at Frontier SA in Sakania

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Humanism and Human Rights, a non-governmental human rights organization working to protect socio-economic rights, warns of the risk of job loss of more than 1,200 Congolese employees hired by Frontier SA in Sakania territory in Nagorno-Katanga province.

” Frontier SA has excavated copper ores from Sakania and wants to sell them to the Chinese in Kolwezi without taking into account the road infrastructure and even in the territory of Sakania , it has also decided to terminate the contract of 1200 employees for reasons not clearly elucidated camouflaged by the Covid-19 pandemic ” denounced the Lubumbashi-based NGO Humanism and Human Rights, in a statement signed by its coordinator King Mushilanama.

Thus, he recalls, the need to respect the last decision of the Head of State, prohibiting the breach of employment contracts in private companies during this period of Covid-19.

” The Head of State’s decision is that, in this period of health emergency, no private company will cease to ensure the continuity of its activities and will not proceed with the mass dismissal in order to avoid the socio-economic consequences ,” the statement added.

The Congolese government, through its Minister of Labour and Social Welfare, had banned the mass dismissal of agents during this period when the country is facing the coronavirus pandemic.

Frontier SA is located 9km northwest of the city of Sakania, and 35km from the city of Ndola in Zambia. Frontier SA is 95% owned by ERG (formerly ENRC), a Kazakh company registered in the Netherlands and 5% by the Congolese state. Frontier SA’s deposit contains the following mineral substances: silver, gold, cobalt, iron, zinc, tin, etc. and has a lifespan of 30 years from 2012 to 2042. The mine has an estimated mineral reserves of 273.8Mt of a crude grade of 1.18% for copper.

Eurasian Resources (ERG) CEO, Benedikt Sobotka speaks on COVID-19 impact on business & demand for battery metals amid global lock-downs.

“We have seen the impact of the pandemic probably earlier than other companies or other sectors, as China is such an important market for us. I would say that on our customer side, I think the worst is probably over. On our supply side, our own operations, we have had to take many initiatives and measures to keep our employees safe. Overall, as a company, we have weathered the storm very well and we are quite proud of that. We are now seeing a worldwide recovery and I am quite optimistic,” Benedikt noted.
 
Benedikt mentioned that Metalkol RTR has recently produced its first cobalt as part of its Phase II ramp-up, despite challenges associated with the supply chain, logistics and lockdowns.
 
“We see that the overall macroeconomic impact on copper has been significant, you see that in the price too, which has already recovered to a significant extent. We also believe that part of the COVID crisis is going to increase the demand for copper, as it is the preferred material to plate surfaces against virus contamination and against infectious diseases.” 

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