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DRC mines review dossier will go to new cabinet
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By: Reuters
Published on 15th October 2008
Updated 40 minutes ago
KINSHASA - Results of a review of mining contracts in Democratic Republic of Congo will only be announced after a new government to be formed by the prime minister takes charge of the dossier, a senior official said on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Adolphe Muzito, who was appointed on Friday, is due to form a new cabinet in the coming days. This is likely to mean further delay to the contracts review that was scheduled to end on Wednesday, Oct. 15.

"When the government is appointed, and takes control of the review, we'll announce (the results)," deputy mines minister Victor Kasongo told Reuters in Kinshasa.

"The government will receive the negotiations from the last weeks ... A final decision will have to be made by the minister," he added, without giving any indication of timing.

The mines contract review, which started last year, covers 61 contracts signed with mining firms including majors such as Freeport-McMoRan and AngloGold Ashanti.

The government had said the process would finish on Sept. 30, but then announced it was extending it to Oct. 15.

President Joseph Kabila on Friday named Muzito, who was serving as budget minister, as the new premier to replace Antoine Gizenga, who retired last month ahead of his 83rd birthday on Oct. 5.

Under the mines review, some companies which signed deals in the copper, tin and cobalt-rich central African country may have to cede much greater ownership to state miner Gecamines.

Firms whose contracts are not approved under the review will be able to renegotiate terms with the government.

Of the 61 contracts, 14 are classed as "green," meaning acceptable, 26 are "orange" which require agreement on some points, and 21 are "red" which face cancellation.

Congo was a major producer of industrial metals before its infrastructure was ruined by decades of misrule by late dictator Mobuto Seke Soko, and a 1998-2003 war.

As metals prices have risen in the past five years, it has become a popular destination for mining firms, attracted by the country's rich mineral deposits.