ZCZC
BCN-06
RDCONGO-ECONOMY-MINING
DRC out to capitalize on recovering mining industry
LUBUMBASHI, DR Congo, Sept 15, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The Democratic Republic of
Congo wants special economic zones for its growing mining industry to
encourage companies who export raw materials to transform them into finished
products locally, president Kabila said this week at a mining conference.
“We need to establish special economic zones for the final users of
Congolese natural resources”, president Joseph Kabila said speaking at a
conference this week in the mining city of Kolwezi.
“The proximity to production sites, to a large labor force, to national
and regional markets, could enable makers of electric cars, smartphones,
plasma screens, fibre optic cables to come to the DRC”, Kabila said.
The government says its long term goal is for the mining industry to
contribute in the development and modernisation of the country, among the
poorest in the world, and says it would profit much more if metals were
refined locally rather than exported raw.
However, a significant lack of energy and poor infrastructure in the
mining region makes that goal difficult to achieve currently.
“Rome wasn’t built in a day”, Albert Yuma, chairman of state-owned mining
company Gecamines, said speaking at the Wednesday conference. “Demand creates
offer, and if refineries were built, I’m sure solutions (to the lack of
energy) would be found.”
Mining revenues in the DRC have almost tripled since last year according
to the Finance ministry Henri Yav Mulang, despite being a risky investment
destination where child labor and unsafe work conditions on artisanal mines
have widely been reported.
The DRC is “the treasure trove of the world” Kabila said, adding that the
“global economy and power of nations depend largely on the country’s natural
resources.”
While the central African nation already produces two thirds of global
cobalt production, the president invited investors to be “audacious” and
explore further.
Cobalt, a byproduct of copper or nickel, is used to make lithium-ion
batteries found in smartphones and electric cars. Most of the high priced
metal is currently exported out of the DRC raw and processed in China.
The ongoing interest in cobalt has given the DRC some leverage with
international companies operating in the country, according to Yuma.
Notably, the government signed a new mining code in March that increases
taxes and royalties, despite objections from major international mining
companies.
BSS/AFP/HR/0935