Gécamines, the Congolese national mining company, has decided to block the sale of cobalt-copper assets from the Chinese group Chemaf Resources to its Chinese compatriot Norin Mining. This veto is a further sign of the deterioration of relations and the exasperation of African operators with their Chinese partners. Chinafrica is starting to lurch on the continent
The Congolese mining company, Gécamines, of which the State is the reference shareholder, officially announced in a press release on Monday, July 1, its opposition to the sale of the mining company Chemaf Resources, which has a 25-year lease on a copper-cobalt permit in the DRC, to its compatriot Norin Mining. “We learned through the press (editor’s note: the Reuters agency) of the announcement of the agreed conditions for the sale of Chemaf Resources and its subsidiaries, including certain rights to assets belonging to Gécamines. The very next day (editor’s note: June 27), the board of directors met and unanimously condemned the violation of the agreements concluded with Chemaf, a subsidiary of Chemaf Resources, as well as the strategy of fait accompli,” the Congolese group stressed in a press release, indicating that its board of directors voted to reject the transaction. For Gecamines, Chemaf SA is only a lessee (a landlord) of the assets
concerned. As lessor (leaseholder) and owner, Gécamines has a right of pre-emption in addition to a right of approval in the event of a change of direct or indirect control.
In 2015, under Joseph Kabila, Gécamines entered into a lease agreement to transfer its exploitation rights to a copper-cobalt permit for 25 years. It is on this permit that Chemaf’s flagship project in the DRC is located in Mutoshi (Katanga province). Financially supported by the commodities trader Trafigura, the Chinese group has been planning a complex there since 2018, capable of delivering 16,000 tonnes of cobalt and 50,000 tonnes of copper per year.
Chemaf Resources was, however, put up for sale last year due to a liquidity shortage that prevented it from raising the funds needed to develop the complex amid falling cobalt prices.
In this context, the company registered on the Isle of Man announced, in a press release published on June 27, that it had accepted a takeover offer presented by the Chinese group Norin Mining.
Par ALSO WITHEditorial Committee
