Denoncé par l'Inspection générale des finances (IGF), le rachat par le Chinois ZIJIN de 15% des parts de la société publique Cominière dans DATHCOM Mining, la joint-venture exploitatrice du lithium à Manono (N-E de la province de Tanganyika) fait bisbilles et grabuges.
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Lithium case: unmasked by the IGF, the Chinese ZIJIN taunts the State, camouflaged in the Cominière
Denounced by the General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF), the takeover by the Chinese ZIJIN of 15% of the shares of the public company Cominière in DATHCOM Mining, the joint venture lithium operator in Manono (N-E of the province of Tanganyika) bickering and mayhem.
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By Pold Levi Maweja
AVZ Minerals had raised $75 million in a fundraising that was “significantly oversubscribed”. The funds had enabled the mining company to begin development work at the Manono lithium mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo @PhotoThird Rights
Published on June 15, 2022 at 04:21:00
A consortium of civil society associations appeals to Félix Tshisekedi, "head of state and guardian of the mining interests of the population so that no official, from the presidency of the Republic to Cominière, does not use the traffic of influence … about Manono's lithium”. DATHCOM Mining is a partnership between Cominière and the Australian AVZ Minerals which has made a financial package of 545.5 million dollars to build the lithium extraction plant in Manono, with the help of another Chinese operator, Suzhou. CATH Energy Technologies. DATHCOM plans to produce 1,600 tons of lithium spodumene (SC6) per day, starting in the last quarter of 2023. The plant could generate 500 direct jobs and 2,000 to 5,000 indirect. AVZ Minerals obtained, at the beginning of May 2022, from the Minister of Mines, Anto Samba, the transfer of its research permit into an exploitation permit. But the movement of civil society fears red tape at the Mining Registry (CAMI), which until the end of May had not yet notified AVZ Minerals of its new permit. It should be recalled that the DG ai of CAMI, Jean-Félix Mupande has been in his post since the 1+4 regime and remains there despite state decisions (including an order from Kabila and an order from the current minister des Mines) relating to his replacement. Mines in the DRC are an area of conflict of interest, often to the detriment of the state, deplore civil society associations.
Tshikapa Syndrome
Voices are already being raised for DATHCOM Mining to sign its specifications relating to social actions to be carried out for the benefit of the populations and regions to be affected by the company's extractive activities. DATHCOM says it has already injected around US$70 million for social actions, including assistance to farmers with several tons of seeds, support for the vaccination campaign, emergency interventions, demining of the entire city of Manono.
Following this news, some fear that Manono, and by extension, all of Tanganyika will hardly benefit from the lithium extracted from its basement, like the regions of Kasaï which have remained large poor villages despite more than 100 years. diamond mining. Experts speak, indeed, of the Tshikapa syndrome: the city is known throughout the world as the world capital of diamonds, and the umbilical cord of Antwerp. Alas, Tshikapa is only called a city because the public administration counts it among the thirty official cities of the DRC, in reality, with its bumpy roads whose asphalt dates back for the most part from colonization, no electricity or running water, a rudimentary health system, Tshikapa looks like a rural town if not a big village. The Tshikapa syndrome would apply, mutatis mutandis, to all the cities of the Kasaï space and even of Greater Katanga. Of Manono's lithium, Nigel Ferguson, managing director of AVZ Minerals, however boasts that it is "one of the most important new mining projects in the world, which will contribute significantly to the global green energy transition".
Today, who says lithium, says batteries for electric cars. However, lithium is also used in medicine, in particular to treat OCD, obsessive-compulsive disorder. Lithium is also used to treat skin diseases, correct metabolic dysfunction, resulting in sleep disturbances and irritability.
Lithium is also used in the manufacture of different types of glass, ceramics, lubricating greases, rubber, enamels, batteries and primary aluminum. It is also used in the manufacture of certain alloys