Congo to Receive Extra $3 Billion From China, Kabwelulu SaysBy...

Congo to Receive Extra $3 Billion From China, Kabwelulu Says

By Franz Wild

Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) -- The Democratic Republic of Congo, which has a 10th of the world's copper reserves, will receive an extra $3 billion from China in a loan agreement currently being negotiated, said Mines Minister Martin Kabwelulu.

The amount is in addition to the $5 billion that the central African nation previously announced it will receive from China, Kabwelulu said in an interview Nov. 6. It hasn't been decided how the extra funds will be spent.

``We have signed an initial memorandum of understanding for $8 billion,'' Kabwelulu said. ``The extra $3 billion has not yet been allocated, but it is part of the deal.''

Congo, which also has the world's largest cobalt deposits and is Africa's biggest tin producer, is seeking investment from abroad to help rebuild its economy after two civil wars between 1996 and 2003 in which 4 million people died. Chinese demand for metals has led companies including BHP Billiton Ltd., the world's largest miner, and AngloGold Ashanti Ltd., the third-largest gold producer, to develop projects in Congo.

In return for the $5 billion loan, four Chinese state enterprises will take a 68 percent stake in Gecamines, the state-owned mining company with the rights to Congo's copper reserves.

To contact the reporters on this story: Franz Wild in Kinshasa via Johannesburg at [email protected] .