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Miners including Randgold, Glencore encourage DRC to hear them out
(WebFG News) - Mining industry representatives in the Democratic Republic of Congo said on Monday that they are "hopeful" that their current engagement with Civil Society, a member of the Mining Code Revision Tri-Partite group and other key interest groups, would contribute to a "better understanding" of certain issues that needed to be addressed before the country's new mining code was implemented.
The statement was issued to markets on Monday morning on behalf of a number of members of the mining industry in the DRC, including London-listed firms Randgold Resources, Glencore and AngloGold Ashanti, as well as Ivanhoe Mines, Gold Mountain International / Zijin Mining Group, MMG, Crystal River Global and China Molybdenum.
"The industry submitted a formal proposal to the Ministry of Mines on 29 March designed to address concerns about the new code, notably the stability clauses embodied in the previous code, which included taxation, customs and exchange control," the representatives explained in their statement.
They said the industry's proposal included provisions to explicitly preserve mining agreements entered into by the government, while proposing a sliding scale on royalties for copper, cobalt and gold which, in their view, would be a "more effective mechanism" for government to share in higher commodity prices than the windfall tax and strategic minerals envisaged in the new code.
"While the Ministry of Mines has not yet formally responded to the industry's proposal, the engagement through the working groups set up to draft the regulations to implement the law and the all-important Civil Society leadership along with other industry and government counterparts has been constructive," the companies explained.
"The industry believes a way forward could be found which would be in the best interests of all parties."
They said a mutually acceptable solution would support and encourage the substantial investment the DRC requires for the optimal development of its mineral resources and the growth of its economy.