Installation of management bodies for the 0.3% endowment, a mission for mining companies!
The Minister of Mines of the DRC has just launched the process of setting up specialized organizations to manage the 0.3% endowment.
This is a fund levied on the gross revenue from the sale of minerals. This for the duration of one year.
This endowment must finance community development projects in the area of intervention of the mining company.
Thus, Antoinette N'Samba signed a collective mission order last week.
This concerns the members of the committee for the supervision, orientation, monitoring and control of the management of this endowment.
Indeed, this committee is composed of the Ministers of Mines and Social Affairs and their competent technical services. The delegation includes 11 people.
Among them, there is among others the Secretary General for Mines, Jacques Ramazani, the Director General of the National Promotion and Social Service Fund (FNPSS), Mrs. Alice Mirimo, is also in the game.
This delegation must go to 5 provinces for the installation of organizations managing the endowment of 0.3% of the turnover of mining companies.
These are the provinces of Kasaï-Oriental, Nord-Kivu, Haut-Uele, Haut-Katanga and Lualaba.
Mission in charge of mining companies!
However, some civil society actors in Haut-Katanga and Lualaba disapprove of the approach of the Ministry of Mines, “putting the Kinshasa delegation in charge of the mining companies”.
According to the last paragraph of the mission order, the charge for this mission is the responsibility of the companies. And the document specifies that it is COMIKA, MMG Kinsevere, Ruashi Mining, Shituru Mining, COMMUS, Kamoa, KCC, MUMI, SICOMINES and TFM for the south of the country.
Then, for the East, there is SACIM, Alphamin, Bisie Mining, Kibali Gold mining.
Gauthier Kavwamba, spokesperson for civil society in Fungurume in the province of Lualaba declares “the Congolese State pretends to be poor when it has all the means”.
Another civil society actor was more direct. “It is abnormal that a service mission for public officials is taken on by mining companies. Do the Ministries of Mines and Social Affairs have no operating costs?'' he wonders.
For this activist committed to good governance in the mining sector, the process got off to a bad start. He fears that the 0.3% endowment will further enrich individuals rather than promote local development.
Prioritize decentralization
In the meantime, the interministerial decree provides for operating costs for the supervision and orientation committee composed of the ministries of mines and that of social affairs. This is a maximum of 4% of the funds from the endowment.
And to prevent all the money from being consumed in the functioning of the supervisory committee, civil society proposes the decentralization of the process of installing specialized bodies. For example, the specifications whose processes are managed by the provincial and local authorities.
”We must put an end to the untimely missions of the national administration services on local issues.
The DRC is a highly decentralized country, “says a member of civil society in Haut-Katanga.
Allocation of the 0.3% endowment
As for the use of this fund, the mining code determines its distribution. 90% is earmarked for the exclusive financing of community development projects.
While only 10% is intended for the functioning of the organs, including 4% for that of the management committee led by the ministries of mines and that of social affairs.
As a reminder, the 0.3% endowment is one of three levers established by the revised mining code of 2018.
All aim at the contribution of mining companies to the sustainable development of local communities.
The other two levers being the mining royalty and the specifications of social responsibility.
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The United States wants to strengthen its presence in the production of lithium in the DRC
An American delegation led by the senior adviser in charge of energy security of the White House, Amos Hochstein, met this Monday, September 12, the representatives of the American company based in the DRC, Peidmont Lithium, to conclude mining agreements.
The objective of this meeting, as the American embassy points out, is among other things to promote American investments for this strategic raw material that is lithium.
Moreover, underlines the head of the American delegation, these investments are the result of the improvement of the business climate in the DRC.
Which is the key to attracting more American investments that lead to beneficial, sustainable and inclusive economic development.
Note that the DRC is today one of the best destinations for lithium investments in the world because of its strategic reserves estimated at more than 440 million tons.
Located in the town of Manono, Tanganyika, the lithium mining reserves found there make this site the largest hard rock lithium deposit in the world.
Being one of the essential raw materials in the manufacture of batteries for electric vehicles, the world price of lithium has experienced exponential growth in recent years. Currently, it is trading at nearly $2400 per ton.