The Republic of Congo (Congo-Brazzaville) is celebrating its 50 years of independence this year. The President was re-elected in 2009 for a further 7 year term. The sparse population of about 4m is concentrated in the southwestern portion of the country, leaving the vast areas of tropical jungle in the north near SDLs tenements virtually uninhabited. FOREIGN INVESTMENT FOR OVER 30 YEARS Both Cameroon and Congo are former French colonies with a French based legal system. Both have recently enacted modern mining codes to attract mining investment. Governments take a 10% stake in projects and royalties are c.2.5%. Tax rates in Cameroon and Congo are 38.5% and 38% respectively, but tax incentives, including tax holidays are available for new projects. Several international companies are already operating in Cameroon, including: Rio Tinto Owns 47% of Alucam (ex Alcan), an aluminium smelter. AES Corp US based power company with a US$12b market cap, owns 12 plants in Cameroon with almost 1000MW generation capacity. Exxon Mobil/Texaco - The ChadCameroon oil pipeline which pumps around 150kbpd. Total, ENI, Chevron - have operated in Congo for c.30 years. Xstrata - has an option to acquire 50% of the Zanaga iron ore project after funding a DFS. Severstal has acquired an interest in Core Mining which owns the Avima iron ore deposit close to the Mbalam project. MagIndustries - A Canadian company with several resource interests in Congo including a Potash project
SDL Price at posting:
43.0¢ Sentiment: LT Buy Disclosure: Held