Exploitation of Manono lithium: The interests of the State defended through COMINIERE
novembre 7, 2022
Kinshasa, November 7th, 2022 (CPA).- The Minister of State in charge of Portfolio, Adele Kayinda Mahina has promised to invest in defending the interests of the Congolese State, within the Commercial and Mining Company of Congo (COMINIERE), in terms of lithium exploitation in Manono, during a working session in his office in Gombe municipality with the national elected officials of the provinces of Tanganyika and Haut-Lomami.
“I am going to restore COMINIERE to its rights. My fight is to defend the interests of the State through this mining company which is a Portfolio company”, she reassured the delegation of national elected officials from Tanganyika and Haut Lomami.
This delegation of deputies had come to present to the Minister of State the concerns of the populations of her two regions around the exploitation of lithium, useful for the manufacture of electric batteries.
Minister Adele Kayinda said that COMINIERE was taken hostage by its partners and forced not to work, despite its resources. This situation was maintained mainly because of the structural confusion that AVZ maintained « This Company acted as AVZ with COMINIERE while on some of its documents it is AVZ mineral and AVZ international on others ».
And to add: « this same company claims to have a 75% instead of 60% share in its joint venture with the aim of registering with stock market institutions and then raising funds, whereas in Manono it does not have ‘no achievement with a visible impact since its installation 6 years ago,’ the Minister of State further declared.
The battery production chain should start in North Katanga
Among the concerns raised by the delegation of the provinces of Tanganyika and Haut-Lomami to the government representative, there are also the problems of asymmetry of information observed at the level of the population around the exploitation of lithium, reputed as a resource main territory of North Katanga, in particular, Moba, Manono, Nyouszo and Kongolo where there are already farms.
« The people of our two provinces are stepping up to deplore the fact that the government, through the Minister of Industry, has embarked on the process of building a battery manufacturing plant in the territory of Sakanya, in Haut Katanga, instead of favoring North Katanga where this resource is quite present”, said the spokesperson for the caucus, national elected officials from two provinces, Emmanuel Mukundi Nyembo. He stressed that their wish is to see the government promote industrial development in the northern part of Katanga, by simultaneously building two lithium manufacturing plants in Tanganyika and Haut-Lomami.
To facilitate industrial development in this part of the country, national elected officials have pinpointed some constraints that the government must first overcome in terms of infrastructure.
« These include the need for the renovation of existing works such as Mpiana Mwanga dam in Haut-Lomami, the reinforcement of Batendera dam in Kalemie », he listed.
Before their meeting with the Minister of State, in charge of Portfolio, this group of national deputies had been received last Tuesday by the Minister of Industry, Julien Paluku, from whom they wanted to obtain reliable information on the process installation of the electric battery manufacturing plant as well as the fate reserved for their respective provinces, in relation to this major project integrating the national economy.
ACP/
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