This tells the amazing story of
Zijin's (Chinese State Company and thus represents China in this dirty business) attempts to acquire for a criminal illegal fire sale price of US$33.4 million 15% of Dathcom's discovered and AVZ funded world class Tin and Lithium deposit in Manono.
Just unbelievable how he Chinese hung themself out to be seen, without any shame, as a bunch of cheap and nasty highway thieves.
Shame on you China!!
Manono lithium certified by Dathcom Mining: the underside of a plot revealed
February 17, 2023 Mining
While the recent report by the General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF acronym) highlighted the poor management and selling off of the mining assets of the Cominière Portfolio company by the members of its board of directors, a letter, related documents and three audios that have reached our editorial office bring to light a plot hatched in the shadows: to sell at all costs, and in defiance of the prescriptions of the law to a Chinese investor, Cominière's stake in Dathcom Mining, the joint venture company venture that it holds with the Australian AVZ International Ltd and Dathomir SASU, a company under Congolese law belonging to the discreet but no less powerful Simon Cong Mao huai.
It all starts when the Chinese mining company ZijinMINING, through its subsidiary Jin Cheng tries around November 2021 to acquire the shares of Cominière within Dathcom Mining, i.e. 15% of the shareholding of the joint venture company in November 2021 Zijin and Cominière sign a share transfer agreement without having notified AVZ International or having previously given it the possibility of exercising its right of first refusal as prescribed by law.
Faced with AVZ's refusal to endorse this irregular transfer, Zijin and Cominière returned to the charge, no longer frontally but, like a crab, sideways.
In a letter dated October 22, 2022 addressed to Cominière with the aim of
"advancing the Manono lithium mining project" ,
Chen Jinghe, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Zijin Mining made a proposal to his interim counterpart at within the Congolese company:
do everything to acquire the northern portion of the northern concession covered by Dathcom Mining's Exploitation License 13359, a part which the company would have renounced.
Mr. Jinghe, who describes the exercise by AVZ International of its right of pre-emption on any sale proposal by a shareholder as an '' abusive use of its majority ' ', informs Cominière of his company's desire to acquire from now on
'' the northeast part of PR 13359, the part referred to .''
In return, Cominière will be rewarded by receiving 29% of the share capital of the company to be created to exploit the coveted portion of PE 13359.
But the game does not look very simple: according to the mining code, any portion of a permit which its holder renounces is first returned to the public domain of the State, leaving it up to any interested person to make the request to the Mining Cadastre. And given the lusts fueled by lithium at the moment and the number of companies jostling at the gate of the DRC to have a piece of the cake,
it is not certain that the northern portion of PE 13359 will automatically return to Zijin or its subsidiary.
This is why the letter, in unequivocal terms, requires that Cominière "be able" to obtain this portion of the concession and the rights attached thereto,
failing which Zijin will not transfer the 15 % of Dathcom's shareholding that it illegally acquired from Cominière for the tidy sum of 33, 4 million US dollars but of which it is unable to avail itself by virtue of the exercise, by AVZ International, of its right of first refusal.
Like what, it is never good to put the proverbial cart before the horse...
As Zijin's letter so eloquently states: ''
To avoid any ambiguity, it should be specified that if COMINIERE fails to legally and effectively transfer the mining right of the Target Party to the Joint Venture, COMINIERE will not have the right to demand from JIN CHENG the retrocession of 15% of shares in DATHCOM, nor the waiver of the payment it made for the acquisition of 15% in the capital of DATHCOM on behalf of COMINIERE.' '
To tell the truth, Cominière would lose everything and would find itself in debt to the tune of 33.4 million dollars, an amount that this company, badly managed and without any income, would have all the trouble in the world to repay.
We therefore understand all of Cominière's despair, whose senior management, as the IGF report demonstrates, have already squandered part of the sum paid to it, and which it is already unable to repay to a Hard-pressed Zijin who was promised the moon to receive nothing but lead.
We also understand the peremptory tone of PCA de Zijin and the orders to the Board of Directors of Cominière to which she addresses herself as vulgar obedient and submissive lackeys.
Who hastened to put pressure on a Minister of Mines who granted them a Ministerial Order reporting PE 13359.
As detailed so well in the IGF report, Cominière perfectly illustrates the disastrous management of the companies in the Portfolio and the way in which they collude with a number of foreign companies to loot and sell off the natural resources which rightfully belong to the Congolese.
(Folder to follow)
By Mupungila Malu, New Congo and Leader.