Congo is determined to complete a review of mining contracts within three months to create a stable environment for the sector, Mining Minister Martin Kabwelulu said on Tuesday.
The Democratic Republic of Congo will kick off the review next week to pinpoint contracts that might not meet international standards, he told Reuters on the sidelines of a base metals conference in Namibia.
"We are starting to review the contracts next Monday and it will be completed in three months maximum because we don't want to stop the work in the field," Kabwelulu said. "There are some contracts that are tough, and others can go through quickly."
Congo, which holds a tenth of the world's copper reserves and a third of its cobalt, suspended all negotiations on future mining deals on March 27, pending the completion of the review. A total of 60 contracts need to be reviewed, under which five firms are already building mines or gone into production and six others are conducting feasibility studies. "The remainder are problematic contracts, we actually don't know or understand what exactly those investors are doing," he said.
"The strategy is just to take all of the contracts and read them, establish some new rules and then those who are willing to work in the new ways, we will remain partners."
Companies operating or prospecting in Congo's fast-expanding mining sector include the world's largest diversified miner BHP Billiton and the world's third-biggest gold producer AngloGold Ashanti, as well as US major Phelps Dodge, recently purchased by Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. Other firms include London-listed Nikanor Plc and Canada's First Quantum Minerals Ltd.
WAR-TIME CONTRACTS: Some contracts were drawn up during Congo's 1998-2003 war, which was largely fuelled by competition for the country's vast mineral wealth and killed an estimated 4 million people. "It was like a sick person and someone offers him some money and since he is weak, he accepts whatever it is." Kabwelulu was appointed in February by Prime Minister Antoine Gizenga after elections last year - the first democratic polls in the country for more than four decades.
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