Gécamines has been dispossessed of 48.8 million tonnes of minerals – DRC
The president of the FEC (Fédération des entreprises du Congo) and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Gécamines, Albert Yuma, revealed, during an academic meeting at the Economic and Social Council on Monday, May 3, that the company He State Gécamines lost most of its mining heritage through joint ventures over 54 million tonnes of minerals in the period between 1996 and 2008.
In his opinion, one of the causes of the current paradoxical situation of the DRC, a country with a geological scandal but poor, is linked “to the transfer of our natural resources, during the two wars which bloodied our country and which were used to finance them. or to compensate the belligerents ”.
“As we unfortunately all know here, our country was literally looted between 1998 and 2001 for more than 10 billion dollars according to the UN, a situation which continued between 2001 and 2003 in particular and which continued until 2006, under another form – more civilized but just as brutal, of transmission of shares between those who had inherited assets in the previous period and investors happy to acquire international assets under very advantageous conditions, a fortiori in a now peaceful country », Denounced Albert Yuma.
And to reveal: “In any case the result was particularly edifying in terms of loss of assets for the State. By way of example, GECAMINES has seen its assets “legally” melt away if you allow me the expression, of 40 million tonnes of copper, 4.5 million tonnes of cobalt and 4.3 million tonnes of zinc which were transferred to Joint Ventures ”.
According to Gécamines’ PCA, if we focus only on the four largest GECAMINES partnerships, TFM in 1996 represented between 4 or 18 million tonnes of copper, KCC in 2003 for 16 million tonnes, Boss Mining in 2003 for 2.6 million tonnes of copper, Sicomines in 2008 for allegedly 8 million tonnes. “This means that four partnerships already represent at least 84% of mining transfers in copper and cobalt, the balance 16% being transferred in 2005 mainly at the time of 4 + 1 under conditions of political division that everyone is familiar with,” he said. he said before the Councils of the Republic.
For him, this injustice will eventually have to be corrected by the new revised Mining Code, the challenges of which are: Develop the financial resources of the State, develop a Congolese middle class by stimulating the economy and clean up the mining industry.
“We must therefore apply this Code without delay and it is the second step of the process, not the easiest, even if the previous one was already complex, to which I hope a third will succeed, which will find the ways and means so that these 40 or 54 million tonnes given up for free one day return to the national fold. It is a test for our country. Will we be able to come together and stand up to show a united face before which our partners will have no other choice but to respect the law? Only time will tell, ”he told the Councilors of the Republic, calling on them to“ fight ”for the application of the revised Mining Code.
