Article Tue, April 11, 2023
The Democratic Republic of Congo is auditing mining deals skewed towards China
"Sicomines is a mining company owned by both DRC (32%) and China with around 6.8 million tonnes in mineral reserves. It owns most of the 15 mines in the country. DRC holds its stake in Sicomines through the state-run mining firm Gecamines. In exchange for China’s 68% share, Beijing-based Sinohydro Corp and China Railway Group agreed to build roads and hospitals for the central African nation of 95 million people."
"In February 2023, the state audit office Inspection Generale des Finances (IGF) asked for an additional $17 billion in infrastructure investment from China, looking to make such deals fairer to DRC. An IGF report released at the time showed that Sicomines had so far invested $822 million on infrastructure projects in the DRC, despite earning $10 billion from contracts in the project over the past 10 years. IGF now wants China to increase its investment in Sicomines from the current $3 billion to $20 billion and also hire more Congolese staff."
"Most of these infrastructure-in-exchange-for-minerals were put in place informally by DRC’s previous government under former president Joseph Kabila between 2007 and 2008."
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