Lu sur les mines
DRC province has great promise, but much work needed
By: Martin Creamer
http://www.miningweekly.co.za/article.php?a_id=102989
AFRICAN INVESTMENT DRC province has great promise, but much work needed Katanga has the potential to be the economic engine of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) once more, but much work will have to be done to return it to its former glory, says its newly elected governor Moise Katumbi.Katumbi would like to restore mineral-rich Katanga towards providing the bulk of revenue for the fledging DRC state.He sees South Africa as the model for the rest of Africa and “even if we could make Katanga 10% like South Africa”, he would have achieved a great deal. He sees great mining and tourism potential, but urgent is putting basic infrastructure in place for Lumbumbashi's 1 500 000 population.There is insufficient water, roads need upgrading and health services provided, along with wealth-creating tourist activities.Katumbi is a former businessperson and wants to run the province in a business-like manner.He believes that bona fide investors from South Africa can help him to do that and he urges that they give attention to Katanaga as an investment destination.CELEBRATING NEW INVESTMENT From left Katanga governor Moise Katumbi, Nikanor's Jonathan Leslie and MCK's Kenneth MacLeod at signing of $30-million earthworks contract for new refinery.
Congo's the latest country striving to benefit more from natural resources
By Polya Lesova, MarketWatch
Last Update: 12:06 PM ET Mar 13, 2007
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NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Like many developing countries seeking to gain more from their mineral wealth, the Democratic Republic of Congo has announced plans to review contracts with foreign mining companies to ensure they favor the African nation.
A war-ravaged country endowed with vast reserves of copper, cobalt, gold, and diamonds, Congo is highly attractive to foreign mining companies, scrambling to find new supplies at a time when metals prices are soaring and production declining. Freeport will gain rights to the Tenke Fungurume project in the Congo, one of the world's largest known copper-cobalt deposits.
Wealthy in mineral resources, but bereft of infrastructure and investment capital, Congo, like other emerging markets, is facing tough choices. It wants to acquire greater ownership and economic benefits from its resources, but at the same time it desperately needs foreign investment and the expertise of big mining companies to develop those resources.
Resource nationalism -- ranging from expropriating foreign companies (as was the case in Venezuela, Bolivia, and Uzbekistan) to imposing windfall profit taxes (Mongolia, Peru, Chile) -- is on the rise.
"This is very much a real and global phenomenon," said Alex Gorbansky, managing director of Frontier Strategy Group, a global consultancy to natural resource companies. "It is having and will have an impact on profit margins."
Price cycle
Resource nationalism is a cyclical trend, Gorbansky said. In the 1970s, for example, as commodity prices boomed, many countries in South America and Africa nationalized their mining industries. Today, commodity prices are again booming, fuelled particularly by demand from the fast-expanding economies of China and India. Many developing countries are employing a variety of measures to keep more of the profits from mining operations at home.
"There are any numbers of ways to legislate tax and royalty increases and how realistically a government mandates tax changes will determine the investment flows they see," said Eric Coffin, editor of the HRA Journal and other publications focused on metals exploration, development and production stocks. "One concern we've had is that governments will be tempted to use the "oil" model."
In the 1970s, after oil prices jumped from $2 to over $30 a barrel, many governments enacted sweeping changes to royalty rates, either moving to revenue sharing or just increasing royalty rates. The problem is that oil and gas exploration is different from the exploration of mining deposits.
"Miners often have to spend tens of millions of dollars before they truly know the feasibility of a project and, even at today's prices, most mines will never achieve the profit margins that large oil fields can produce," Coffin said. "Because the timelines are long for mine development and the capital expenditure is generally large, political risk is an increasing concern."
Government leaders tend to forget that it requires billions of dollars of investment to develop a resource deposit, said Frank Holmes, CEO and chief investment officer at U.S. Global Investors Inc.
"Money is like ducks on a pond: you clap your hands and the birds fly away," Holmes said. "If they [governments] talk tough, then the money will go away from that country and that will only hurt job creation."
Taxing profit
Resource nationalism takes on different forms. A recent survey showed that Mongolia and Chile have become less attractive for foreign mining investment. Other underperformers were Venezuela, Bolivia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Kazakhstan, Russia, Indonesia and Congo.
Mongolia, for example, authorized a 68% windfall profits tax on gold and copper with little warning last year.
In Chile, state-owned miner Codelco, the largest copper producer in the world, has first dibs on any new project, Gorbansky said. In such countries, "foreign investors are brought in for the most complex, technologically difficult and risky projects."
Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan tend to transfer control of assets as a means of securing economic and foreign policy objectives. As a result of Kyrgyzstan's recent shift towards Russia, the license of Britain's Oxus Gold to develop the Jerooy gold project was suspended last year, Gorbansky said. Oxus Gold has agreed in principle to sell its stake in the Kyrgyz operation to KazakhGold Group, the company said in a statement this week.
In another instance, Uzbekistan expropriated the Zarafshan-Newmont Mining joint venture gold operation last year. Newmont lost control of its 50% stake and is currently seeking compensation from Uzbekistan in two separate international arbitration venues.
State control
State domination of assets is an extreme way of nationalizing assets. Driven by a combination of geopolitical ambitions and national politics, governments maintain nearly full control and ownership of resources through state-owned national champions, Gorbansky said. Foreign companies face the threat of expropriation and license revocation.
Venezuela, for example, has threatened to nationalize several key industries. Bolivia nationalized the country's natural gas reserves in May last year and plans to nationalize the mining industry.
Russia has also aggressively pursued state domination in key extractive sectors.
"Times are too good for companies to waste their time in places where they will have projects pulled out from under them or taxed out of existence," Coffin said. "The prime example here is Russia which has enormous amounts of fantastic geology and mineral wealth but sees very little mining investment. They simply are not trusted because of the way a few projects have been expropriated in both mining and oil and gas."
"Is there enough upside in a particular project to justify the risk?" is the big question that mining companies ask, Gorbansky said: "They have no choice, but to take risks. There's a lot of pressure on companies to grow and to continue to replace reserves."
Congo talks tough
With its vast mineral deposits, Congo is one place where mining companies are flocking, trusting the opportunities justify the risk. Messages from officials have been mixed. In late February, the governor of Katanga Province, home to most of Congo's base metals deposits, warned mining companies that failure to meet state deadlines will result in revocation of their rights to mine properties. However, the head of state-owned mining company Gecamines has assured international investors that renegotiation of any contracts would be consensual.
"The Congo is coming out of the world's worst war since World War Two," said Katherine Constabile, an analyst at the Eurasia Group. "The country doesn't have the infrastructure. There needs to be public-private partnerships."
Still, mining companies have run into trouble. Canada's First Quantum Minerals and South Africa's Exxaro Resources are suing the Congolese government after they lost their license to develop the Kipushi zinc mine in Katanga province. Australia's Moto Goldmines has also been affected. The Congolese deputy minister of mines said on Feb. 27 that a protocol on expanding Moto's operations in the country had no value under Congolese law and could be cancelled.
Freeport also has a big stake. The company hopes that the Tenke Fungurume copper-cobalt deposits could at some point rival the world's biggest copper mines, such as Chile's Escondida and Freeport's Grasberg mine in Indonesia.
"As a development opportunity Tenke Fungurume project in the Congo is an ore body that's been known for decades to be world class in terms of its basic geology and Phelps has been working to develop plans for the initial development," said Richard Adkerson, president and CEO of Freeport, at a Morgan Stanley investment bank conference in late February.
"Going forward, we have to be assured that there's a contract there that gives us the assurance of committing capital," Adkerson said. "We have to develop infrastructure; roads, railroads, border crossings and power."
The World Bank recommended earlier this year that three contracts with mining companies be renegotiated because of a lack of transparency in how they were awarded. One contract was with Phelps Dodge.
"Gecamines is in terrible debt," Constabile said. "It needs these contracts and these relationships. You can possibly expect renegotiations for a few small companies as a token acquiescence to the World Bank, but for a Phelps contract, that won't happen." Polya Lesova is a MarketWatch reporter based in New York
DRC's Katanga governor woos bona fide resources investors, heaps praise on Nikanor
MinBy: Martin Creamer
http://www.miningweekly.co.za/article.php?a_id=102628
Katanga governor-elect Moise Katumbi has extended an invitation to South African resources investors to help him return the once-rich Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) mining province to its former glory.Speaking at a Nikanor signing ceremony to mark the start of work on a large new copper refinery, Katumbi heaped praise on the London Alternative Investment Market (Aim)-listed Nikanor for investing in the province that once contributed 70% to overall DRC coffers.A businessman-turned-politician, Katumbi said that Nikanor had been true to its word in its dealings in the Katanga province and he would be insisting upon that from all investors.A $30-million earthworks contract between Nikanor's DCP subsidiary and Mining Company Katanga (MCK), headed by South African Kenneth MacLeod, was signed, for a 250 000 ton per annum (tpa)-to-400 000tpa state-of-the-art solvent-extraction-electrowinning refinery, which may eventually also toll-treat material for others in the region. MCK has procured a band new truck fleet for the earhtmoving assignment from South Africa's Bell Equipment.Primary use, however, will be for Nikanor's own Kamoto-Oliveira-Virgule (KOV) operation and its other assets in Kolwezi.Katumbi praised a corporate social road-rehabilitation investment that Nikanor had already undertaken in Katanga, which meant that Katangans could now drive to Kolwezi in a matter of hours rather than days.Nikanor, headed by executive chairperson Jonathan Leslie - known in South Africa as the former CEO of Sappi - is investing $1,3-billion in KOV, which is one of the world's largest high-quality copper-cobalt orebodies.Katumbi extended an invitation to South African resources investors to “come and invest in Katanga”, which he was intent on substantially developing. Besides mining, he also saw attractive tourism potential in some of the province's best-kept tourism secrets, including a spectacular waterfall, which he believed rivalled the Victoria Falls.The charismatic governor-elect, who won by an overwhelming landslide, is also closely connected to Katanga's popular CAF-cup soccer team, TP Mazembe.Katumbi was scathing about companies that had made grandiose investment promises, but had then failed to deliver on those promises.He was particularly critical of Exxaro Resources' failure to develop the Kipushi zinc mine and said a contract to do so had now been awarded to United Resources.He held up Nikanor as a model investor and said that the refinery it was building would be of great value-adding benefit to the province of Katanga, which he believed had enormous promise as an investment destination.He said that he hoped one day to be able to develop Katanga to a height that would make it comparable with South Africa.Nikanor is already processing cobalt-rich ore from satellite Kananga and Tilwezembe operations and exporting it through Durban, which is some 3 000 km away.Steps are being taken to improve rail facilities to closer ports and Lobito, being 1 800 km away in Angola, is one being considered.It was understood that China would be paying for the upgrade of the line to the DRC border, with Nikanor also assisting for a stretch of rail line.Nikanor last year raised $434-million on London's Aim. Twenty-eight percent of its shares are in free float, 36% are held by BSGR (Beny Steinmetz Group Resources), which is known in South Africa for its control of project house Bateman, and also for its significant diamond interests, 22% by the Gertner Family Trust and 14% by Dan Gertler.
Africa's DRC back on map for miners
'Companies who are there are going to reap rewards'
Drew Hasselback, Financial PostPublished: Monday, March 05, 2007
The Democratic Republic of Congo was once one of the world's largest copper producers. In the 1980s, the mineral rich nation supplied 6% of the world's copper, while mining was responsible for one-quarter of the African nation's gross domestic product.
A brutal civil war in the 1990s destroyed that copper industry. But in recent years, a peace treaty and free elections have put the DRC back on the development track--and Canadian miners are helping lead the way.
"Certainly, the DRC is the last frontier in Africa. And I think the companies who are there are going to reap the rewards," says Peter Cowley, chief executive of Toronto-based Banro Corp.
The opportunities and problems raised by mining this war torn African nation will be a hot topic during the 75th annual convention of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, which kicks off today in Toronto and continues until Wednesday. About 15,000 people from more than 90 countries are expected to attend.
A special session on developing projects in the DRC is scheduled for this afternoon. The return of mining to the DRC is not without controversy. Critics question whether the investment process is transparent, while miners insist their work is crucial to the development of a prosperous economy.
The return of mining is taking place as La Generale des Carrieres et des Mines (Gecamines), a state-owned firm that once controlled the entire industry, is now taking minority positions in private mining projects.
"I think the conditions are difficult," says Jamie Kneen, a spokesman for Ottawa-based industry critic Mining Watch. "I think there needs to be much better evidence of the way things are being done. When you look at the Gecamines arrangements, they don't look terribly advantageous to the Congolese government or the Congolese people."
Mr. Kneen says the commodities boom of recent years, along with giant Canadian mining deals that last year dominated business headlines, raised the profile of the mining industry among mainstream Canadians.
A Parliamentary committee last summer held a series of round tables that among other things tried to shed some light on the practices of Canadian-based mining companies operating in developing countries. Such attention is gold for industry critics who are keen to use a surge of public attention to advance their agendas.
"On the government side, I think, it showed that there might be some willingness to acknowledge the need to do something differently," Mr. Kneen said.
Industry consultants are well aware of the changing landscape. Gone are the days when all it took to advance a mining project was a presentation based on drill results, ore grades, technical requirements and commodity prices.
"Probably the thing we're growing fastest right now is working with clients on talking about the social and community aspects of mining," says Peter Lighthall, a Vancouver-based vice-president with global engineering consultants AMEC. "That means helping develop relations with First Nations or indigenous communities, either in Canada or overseas. I think that's something that has been very good business for us, but also a great necessity for our clients."
Western companies have long eyed Congo's mineral wealth. Decades of brutal dictatorship and state control over much of the nation's mineral deposits restricted the opportunities for foreign investment. Things changed in the 1990s when the country opened the doors to foreign miners. A few miners took the plunge, but ongoing political violence made the country a no-go area for several Western firms.
Kinross Gold Corp. was one of the first firms to take a look. A low gold price in the mid-1990s left the Toronto-based miner looking for base metals properties to diversify its metals portfolio. The DRC offered a chance for Kinross to develop a copper-cobalt project.
As things turned out, Kinross ultimately decided to stick with precious metals. However, a former Kinross executive, Art Ditto, decided to form a junior mining company, Katanga Mining Ltd., which acquired that copper- cobalt project in the DRC. He was convinced the project would emerge as a mine once the country settled down politically.
"In the mining business, one way or another, you're in a frontier, either geologically, geographically, or often times politically. In this case, it's more political than any other," says Mr. Ditto, chief executive of Katanga.
The political climate has improved dramatically. A peace treaty ending the civil war was signed in 2002. Sporadic violence persists, but the country was able to hold its first free elections in four decades on July 30, 2006. Joseph Kabila was ultimately elected president in a runoff election held on Oct. 29.
The return of peace has paid off for Western investors who were willing to gamble on the DRC back in the mid-1990s.
Sweden's Lundin family, which manages a suite of mining companies from an office in Vancouver, has a long tradition of investing in the sort of risky countries that other Western investors shun. So it was that family patriarch Adolf Lundin decided to invest in Congo back in 1996. The result is Vancouver-based Tenke Mining Corp., which is working to develop one of the world's largest known copper-cobalt deposits, Tenke Fungurume.
"It was all about securing what was obviously a prudent investment in the best copper deposit in the world, albeit in a pretty tough place," says Paul Conibear, president of Tenke. "Their vision was to acquire it, invest in it, be patient with it. Because obviously it was going to become a mine some day. It would have to be. That was really the driver."
The Lundins' patient approach eventually paid off. Arizona-based Phelps Dodge Corp. recently acquired a controlling stake in the Lundins' Congolese project, and last year announced plans to develop a US$650-million mine. Tenke Fungurume should be in production by the end of 2008.
Other exploration companies see opportunities outside the copper belt. Toronto-based Banro has identified resources of 3.7 million ounces of gold at its four properties in the DRC.
Banro's Mr. Cowley believes the return of a mining industry will spark development of other aspects of the DRC's economy. The country needs private investment to make that happen, he says.
"It's on the back of the private sector that the country will develop. It's gone through torrid times and it's really just come out of it no w," Mr. Cowley said. "Besides the minerals, I know some of the South African communications and mobile phone companies think there's extraordinary and huge potential."
dhasselback@nationalpost.com
Le contrat MIBA – EMAXON : Sa portée réelle
La Minière de Bakwanga « MIBA » est une entreprise d’économie mixte dans laquelle l’Etat Congolais détient 80% des actions tandis que les 20% restant sont détenus par SIBEKA (une société belge) qui vient de vendre depuis l’année passée ses parts à Mwana Africa.
Les concessions de la MIBA s’étendent sur 78.000 Km².
EMAXON est une filiale de DGI Group of Companies fondée en 1996 par M. Dan Gertler. DGI Group fait actuellement partie des producteurs de diamants bruts les plus importants au monde. EMAXON Sprl est une société qui a son siège social à Kinshasa. Elle contrôle l’exploitation minière, les projets sociaux et communautaires du groupe DGI en République Démocratique du Congo.
Le contrat
Le contrat conclu entre la MIBA et EMAXON rentre dans ce que le Fonds Monétaire International et la Banque Mondiale appellent le « partenariat public-privé ». Il est considéré actuellement comme le meilleur moyen pour ressusciter des entreprises en faillite déguisée ou dans une situation de faible compétitivité sur le marché de production des biens ou des services.
Le partenariat public-privé est un mode de financement contractuel dans lequel l’autorité publique fait appel à des prestations privées pour financer un équipement apportant un service public. Le partenaire privé reçoit en contrepartie un paiement, par exemple, sous la forme d’une concession.
C’est ainsi que, confrontée à des difficultés multiples à la suite des guerres successives qui ont créé un environnement peu propice aux affaires, la MIBA a dû recourir à l’appel des capitaux privés pour faire face aux contraintes internes et externes sous lesquelles elle ployait.
Les sources de financement traditionnelles de la MIBA rechignaient sur l’opportunité de pouvoir encore lui faire confiance pour lui donner des avances devant lui permettre de faire face à des charges incompressibles telles que les dix mois d’arriérés de salaires du personnel, le délabrement des infrastructures sociales sans compter la dette sociale faite des retraités non payés depuis 1997 et des arriérés des vivres pour les travailleurs, la dette extérieure principalement composée des fournisseurs divers en gasoil et pièces de rechange non payés ainsi qu’un outil de production obsolète.
C’est dans ce contexte que la firme EMAXON, une filiale du DGI GROUP OF COMPANIES a décidé de se jeter à l’eau en acceptant de conclure un contrat avec la MIBA, au terme duquel elle s’engageait à verser 15 millions de dollars USD à raison de 5 millions USD comme fonds de roulement pour la MIBA et 10 millions USD aux fournisseurs de la NLK2 et de la dragline (BIA et BATEMAN). En contrepartie, la MIBA s’est engagée à lui vendre 88% de sa production, et cela, pendant quatre ans.
Pour mieux saisir la portée réelle du contrat EMAXON – MIBA, il convient de savoir que la MIBA n’a jamais fait l’objet d’attention du Fonds Monétaire International (FMI) et de la Banque Mondiale, simplement parce que la MIBA est une entreprise d’économie mixte.
En outre, la déliquescence et la morosité de la conjoncture économique que traversait notre pays ainsi que le manque d’éclaircie et de visibilité sur le plan politique en 2002 faisait que la RD Congo était considérée comme un pays à haut risque.
L’investisseur étant un gibier peureux, l’on comprend que toutes les banques aient refusé de répondre à l’appel d’offre de la MIBA.
Devant la pression tant interne qu’externe exercée sur la MIBA par les travailleurs et les fournisseurs qui s’apprêtaient à saisir les comptes de la MIBA à l’extérieur, la MIBA a dû recourir à ses anciens acheteurs. Des onze répertoriés, seuls deux furent retenus ; car ils présentaient des conditions presque similaires, à savoir : SDD et EMAXON.
Le choix est alors tombé sur EMAXON parce que celle-ci n’a pas posé le problème de pays à haut risque.
Après discussion, les deux parties sont arrivées à 15 millions de dollars us qu’EMAXON devait verser à la MIBA.
EMAXON qui n’est pas une société caritative a posé des conditions en exigeant l’achat, par elle, de toute la production de la MIBA. Après négociation, la MIBA est arrivée à la décision de vendre 88% de sa production à EMAXON et de garder les 12% pour le window afin de tâter le marché pour la fixation du prix de vente de ces 88% à EMAXON.
Du prix du carat des shipments de la MIBA
Pour fixer le prix du carat de son shipment, la MIBA dispose de son évaluateur basé à Anvers en Belgique. Pour vendre les 88% à EMAXON, la MIBA procède de la manière suivante : après l’évaluation, la MIBA propose le prix à EMAXON qui le confronte avec le prix fixé par son propre évaluateur. Lorsque les prix divergent, un prix moyen est convenu. Mais s’il n’y a pas d’accord entre les deux parties sur un prix moyen, un troisième évaluateur est sollicité et c’est son prix qui est retenu.
Cette pratique a déjà fait ses preuves dans la mesure où il est toujours tenu compte de l’évolution des prix sur le marché. Après avoir convenu du prix, EMAXON paie le prix et ce n’est que lorsque l’argent est versé dans le compte de la MIBA que la marchandise est envoyée à Tel Aviv (Israël).
Aujourd’hui, avec le recul, la MIBA elle-même reconnaît que sans les 15 millions d’EMAXON, on ne parlerait plus d’elle.
Cette bouée de sauvetage a permis non seulement à la MIBA de fidéliser et de remotiver son personnel en rattrapant tous les retards de paiement des salaires mais aussi de renouveler son outil de production devenu obsolète avant ce contrat.
L’on ne pourra jamais dire que ce contrat a résolu tous les problèmes de la MBA, mais il faut néanmoins reconnaître que grâce à ce contrat d’une durée de quatre ans, la MIBA a acquis des équipements de production (une dragline et la NLK2) qui ont une durée de vie de 30 à 50 ans.
Du Social
Par ailleurs, sur le plan social, EMAXON n’a pas oublié les travailleurs de la MIBA et les populations de Mbuji-Mayi. Le lundi 27 mars 2006 a eu lieu à Mbuji-Mayi la remise officielle des deux blocs opératoires pimpant neufs (équipements de chirurgie) destinés à l’hôpital général DIPUMBA et à l’hôpital BONZOLA de la MIBA.
L’équipement offert par EMAXON comprenait le matériel urologique, les bistouris électriques, les générateurs de lampe, tables et appareils pour anesthésie, moniteurs de surveillance, aspirateurs neufs et plusieurs boîtes pour la chirurgie, bref, l’équipement complet des salles d’opérations.
Le PAD de la MIBA, M. Gustave Luabeya a, pour la circonstance déclaré : « c’est également l’occasion pour moi d’exprimer ma gratitude au président du Groupe DGI, M. Dan Gertler, pour le geste de haute portée sociale qu’il vient de poser en acceptant de remettre en donation, deux blocs opératoires modernes à la MIBA et à travers elle, à la population de la ville de Mbuji-Mayi et du Kasaï-Oriental. »
En remettant ces équipements médicaux aux hôpitaux Dipumba et Bonzola, M. Dan Gertler n’a fait qu’appliquer le conseil lui légué par son Grand Père Moshe Schnitzer qui lui a expliqué combien il était important « de ne pas oublier les hommes dans les affaires. »
Des difficultés actuelles de la Miba
La Minière de Bakwanga « MIBA » connaît aujourd’hui des difficultés et celles-ci ne datent pas d’aujourd’hui et ne commencent pas non plus avec le contrat Emaxon-Miba.« Ça fait quinze ans que nous sommes en dessous du seuil de rentabilité » a reconnu devant Caroline DUMAY du Figaro, M. Gustave Luabeya Tshitala, le Président Administrateur Délégué de la Miba.
La guerre au pays, l’envahissement de la concession de la Miba (le polygone minier) par de dizaines de milliers de clandestins appelés aussi « suicidaires», prêts à tout pour dérober quelques pierres, l’assassinat de MIKE BABY, le formateur de nationalité Sud africaine et conducteur de la Dragline par les mêmes clandestins au mois de juin de l’année passée ; le manque d’engins (camions bennes, tracteurs et autres) ; l’insuffisance de l’énergie électrique capable de faire fonctionner de façon optimale les nouveaux équipements de production acquis grâce au contrat Emaxon-Miba ; la conjugaison d’intérêts militaires, politiques et économiques divers et parfois divergents ; le climat électoral houleux, la prolifération des comptoirs; sont autant d’épines dans les pieds de la Miba. Et Emaxon n’a pas son pied dans le management (gestion) de la Miba. Elle n’a été que prêteuse. Il serait aujourd’hui malhonnête de l’accuser d’être à la base des difficultés actuelles de la Miba.
Emaxon est un des plus grands acheteurs de diamants au monde. Elle a intérêt que la Miba se porte bien. Avec l’arrivée à la tête de la Province du Kasaï Oriental de M. Alphonse Ngoy Kasandji, un chevronné du monde de négoce de diamant, l’on est en droit d’espérer une amélioration significative de la santé de la Miba pour le plus grand bonheur des travailleurs de la Miba et des populations du Kasaï.
Car, en réalité, après trente ans de mobutisme et dix ans de guerre, la Miba qui fournit encore 3% de la production mondiale, est au bord de la faillite. Des remèdes idoines doivent être trouvés et l’exploitation de la couche kimberlite demeure à ce jour la solution la mieux conseillée. Ceci permettra à la Miba qui n’exploite que la millième partie de sa concession qui s’évalue à trois fois la Belgique d’étendre sa production sur plus de la moitié de sa superficie.
L’arrivée annoncée à travers les joint-ventures signés avec la Miba de grands tels que les Sud-Africains (De Beers), les Russes (Niznelenskoye), les Australo-britaniques (BHP Billiton) et les Israéliens (Dan Gertler International) constitue-t-elle la planche de salut pour la Miba ? A condition toutefois que le Gouvernement Gizenga fasse aboutir dans les meilleurs délais le dossier de sous-tirage du courant électrique à partir de la ligne haute tension à Tshimbulu dans le Kasaï-Occidental.
Tiré de Le Phare