United Arab Emirates signs a partnership for traceability in the DRC artisanal mining of 3T ores
The Prime Minister, Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde Kyenge, supervised, on Saturday December 10, 2022, in his office, the signing ceremony of the partnership contract between the DRC and the United Arab Emirates. Partnership resulting in the creation of two companies: Primera Gold DRC for the artisanal gold sector and Primera Metals DRC for the artisanal 3T ores sector (Tin, Tungsten, Tantalum). The objective is to stop smuggling in these two sectors.
It was in the presence of the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Portfolio, the Deputy Minister of Mines, and several experts from the Premature. The Emirati delegation was led by the Chargé d’Affaires of this country in the DRC, who is at the same time co-founder and CEO of Primera Group Limited.
By signing this contract thus concluded, the two parties under take to clean up the artisanal sectors of these two minerals by creating two joint ventures to fight against fraud in the artisanal sector of gold and 3Ts with a view to restoring the tarnished image of these minerals plagued by fraud, smuggling and illicit exploitation, particularly in the east of the country. The signing of these two joint ventures gives rise to Primera metals DRC and Primera Gold DRC.
Primera Gold DRC will set up a chain of custody of artisanal gold acceptable at all levels. It is unacceptable that the DRC can officially export only 3 kg per year, while 15 to 20 tonnes of artisanal mining gold are exported fraudulently. It’s a lot of capital that escapes the country like that.
For its part, Primera Metals DRC will take charge of the traceability of the 3T ores and lead to a value chain added by local processing.
The signing of these contracts is the conclusion of discussions that began a year ago when Congolese President Felix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo met with his Emirati counterpart in Abudabi. These negotiations continued at the level of the Premature, between Prime Minister Sama Lukonde and Emirati delegates.
