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Mines minister Pierre Oba's legal and administrative adviser Odilon Obami registered an investment firm in Brazzaville on 31 October that is to soon hold all state shares in mining firms. The new entity, the Fonds d'Investissement Minier du Congo (FIMC), which has an initial capital of FCFA 10m (€15,245), is run by President Denis Sassou-Nguesso's chargé de mission, Hassane Diabate.US lawyer Remy Stephane Lerner, a partner at the Parisian bureau of US law firm Curtis, put forward the idea of such an entity to the Congolese government earlier this year. Sunrise Holdings, a company Lerner represents, is temporarily the sole shareholder in the new business and Lerner himself is the chairman of the board.The entity has been set up in time to see a number of disputes between mining firms and the government potentially reach an end. The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris is expected to hand down rulings on a string of arbitration proceedings filed by a handful of mining groups disgruntled at being ousted from their Congolese concessions in 2020, including cases pitting the government against Australian groups Sundance and Avima Iron Ore, before the end of the year. Once those cases are closed, Brazzaville plans to transfer its minority shares in mining projects led by new partners, such as Bestway Finance for the Mbalam-Nabeba iron ore project, to FIMC.

https://www.africaintelligence.com/central-africa/2024/11/14/brazzaville-sets-up-mining-investment-firm,110339442-bre