https://kongopress.com/2023/08/19/pourquoi-la-rehabilitation-de-l...

https://kongopress.com/2023/08/19/pourquoi-la-rehabilitation-de-la-centrale-hydraulique-de-mpiana-mwanga-du-projet-lithium-de-manono-est-toujours-aux-arrets/

Why is the rehabilitation of the Manono lithium project's Mpiana-Mwanga hydropower plant still at a standstill?
August 19, 2023
Kiki Kienge

The Piana-Mwanga hydroelectric dam is a 54-megawatt power station commissioned in 1933 under Belgian colonial rule, to supply eclectic energy to the Manono tin mine, now home to the Manono lithium project.

With tin mining and its mine mothballed since 1982, the Piana-Mwanga hydroelectric power station has been unable to continue producing electrical energy due to a lack of funding and maintenance, previously guaranteed by the state-owned Zairetain tin mining company, now COMINIERE.

On January 13, 2020, the mining conglomerate AVZ MINERALS Limited joined DATHCOM, a joint venture with the Congolese state for the exploitation of lithium, in order to supply the Manono-Kitotolo mine, one of the largest lithium mines in the DRC, with reserves estimated at 120,000,000 tonnes (132,277,357 tons) of ore, with electrical power.

AVZ POWER SAU (a subsidiary of AVZ MINERALS) had signed an agreement with the Congolese government for the rehabilitation of the Mpiana-Mwanga I and II hydroelectric power station to power its mining operations, in particular to supply electricity to a large part of the population of the Manono territory.

"We have been working for several months now to secure this opportunity, as we see the rehabilitation of the Mpiana-Mwanga power station as a major step forward for the company," said Nigel Ferguson, Managing Director of AVZ MINERALS.

A feasibility study had been authorized by the Congolese government through its Ministry of Hydraulic Resources and Electricity and initiated by the Australians from AVZ POWER, to enable the already derelict Piana-Mwanga hydroelectric plant to generate at least 54 megawatts to support its mining and power distribution activities in the Manono territory.

In September 2022, COMINIERE, the Congolese government's representative company in DATHCOM, decided to change the cards in the project to rehabilitate the Piana-Mwanga hydroelectric power station.

On Saturday November 12, 2022, COMINIERE publicly announced through its delegate in the joint venture, MUYELA Robert, that it had selected the Chinese group ZIJIN, through one of its subsidiaries in DR Congo, from among several proposals, to rehabilitate the Mpiana-Mwanga hydroelectric power station within three years, without any conditions.

The reason given by COMINIERE is that the Australians from AVZ MINERALS have not respected the laws of the DR Congo, granting themselves, through DATHCOMA, the power station which belongs to the Congolese state and not to the joint venture on the Manono-lithium project.

It should be remembered that in 2020 the contract for the rehabilitation of the power plant was signed between DATHCOM and the Congolese Ministry of Hydraulic Resources and Electricity, with the blessing of all the partners, including COMINIERE in question, as attested by this 2021 Ministry document signed by the minister in office.

Since the COMINIERE management team, financed by the Chinese group ZIJIN, has been trying to get its hands on the Manono lithium project at the expense of the Australians from AVZ MINERALS, the project to rehabilitate the Mpiana-Mwanga dam has come to a standstill, depriving the entire population of electricity and blocking the development of Tanganyika province in general.