File PR12447 and PR12448 of "United Cominière SAS": Civil Society demands explanations from the Minister of Mines
November 16, 2022 TIGHANA MASIALA Economy,Politics 0
Antoinette Nsamba Kalambayi, Minister of National Mines
A transformation of a research permit into an operating permit that would have happened far from transparency, according to a collective of civil society NGOs, justifies a correspondence that the latter have just sent to the Minister of Mines, taking care to inform all the officials of the country, from the President of the Republic to the boss of the General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF). In this correspondence, civil society actors demand – in the name of citizen control – clear answers to this transformation in which the nebula "United Cominière SAS" is involved. Full letter to the Minister of Mines.
Madam Minister of Mines, Our organizations and citizen platforms (Justicia Asbl, LICOCO, RND Asbl, POM, MDR, GANVE, CDH, ESPOIR ONG, RCEN/CENCO, TPDC, MAX IMPACT), members of Congolese civil society monitoring human rights and the mining sector in the country, hereby diligently seize you about what they have read,
November 1, 2022, on the website of Tantalex Lithium Resources Corporation regarding the conversion of United Cominiere SAS (UC) Research Permits (PR) into Operating Permits (PE) upon your authorization.
"Lithium Tantalex Resources Corp. (CSE: TTX – TSE: DW8 – OTCQB:TTLXF) ("Tantalex" or the "Company"), is pleased to announce that its DRC subsidiary, United Cominiere SAS, 70% owned, has been informed by the Ministry of Mines that Research Permits PR 12447 and 12448 have now been approved by Ministerial Order for conversion into mining concessions." This is the content of the first paragraph of Tantalex Lithium Resources Corporation's online press release.
Formerly Tantalex, before Mr. Klaus Eckoff of AJN Resources joined in January 2022 as Director, this company listed in Canada and Germany presents itself as "a mining company in the mining and development phase engaged in the acquisition, exploitation, development and distribution of lithium, tin, tantalum and other high-tech mineral properties in Africa. its lithium assets in the prolific Manono region of the Democratic Republic of Congo; The Manono Lithium Tailings Project and the Pegmatite Corridor Exploitation Program".
Its President is Hadley Natus and Eric Allard as Chief Executive Officer, according to the press release above.
Madam Minister, it appears from the legal elements and certain correspondence at our disposal that to date the company "United COMINIERE SAS (UC)" is composed of the following shareholders: COMI-NIERE SA: 30%; BURTON FINANCIALS: 5%; ORE SARLU: 65%.
With regard to the following final judgments of the Congolese justice:
- The RCE 7495 which ratified the RCCM of January 20, 2022 as well as the decisions to strike off the false RCCM of October 16, 2021;
- RP19203 which declared the foreign company "Sandstone Word Wide Ltd" non-existent in Congolese law and had dismissed it in court as well as the Canadian citizen Eric Allard, its president, for lack of quality;
- RPO 10247/10267 which sentenced Canadian citizen Eric Allard to 3 years of principal penal servitude and the payment of 50,000USD in damages for forgery and use of forgery;
- CAR 2942, interlocutory judgment, which ordered the stay of this case on the basis of the "criminal who holds the civil in condition", whose request is the reinstatement of the complementary or amending registration of the fraudulent RCCM of October 16, 2021;
Considering that there is to date no judgment contrary to all these judicial decisions having acquired the force of res judicata, and that they are said in the name of the Congolese people and executed in the name of His Excellency the President of the Republic, Head of State;
Our organizations and citizen platforms want COMINIERE SA to:
- Remain impartial to disputes between partners and deal only with shareholders as dedicated to the RCCM of January 20, 2022 because ratified by a final judgment;
- Compose and deal only with the associates of UC SAS whose RCCM is cited to resolve the dispute related to several tens of tons of mining products, mainly containing coltan, having been the subject of fraud and illicit exploitation against individuals whose judicial file is pending at the prosecutor's offices and for which we have an independent expert report of which we have read a copy;
- Respect its recommendation made to shareholders, in its letter of February 4, 2021, to refer to justice to be decided by final judgments.
Unless we misunderstand, the analytical reading of the documents at our disposal proves that the transfer of shares in United Cominière SAS on March 17, 2020 is confirmed by:
- The contract for the transfer of shares between Sandstone and ORE SARLU;
- The additional registration to the acts of "UC SAS" and the Minutes of the transfer of March 17, 2020 including the RCCM of October 7, 2020;
- The new statutes of "UC SAS" signed by the representatives of the three partners namely: Mr. MWAMBA MISO Athanase for Cominière SA; Mrs MIHIGO NABINTU Micheline for ORE SARLU and Mr BURTON ENGLISH Thomas for Burton Financial Inc.;
- The 2020 financial statements of the Canadian company Tantalex, owner of Sandstone, having recognized the said transfer of shares;
- The various exchanges and emails during the negotiations between the sellers and owners of 70% (Thomas English acting jointly with Kyle Appleby, his CFO, Eric Allard, his vice-president and the audit firm MNP of Amy Chang) and the assignees (ORE SARLU and BURTON FINANCIAL).
Your Excellency the Minister of Mines, it is common knowledge that to date, this transfer has never been the subject of any annulment in court. Any dispute of the transfer can only be the responsibility of the Courts and Tribunals and not of another institution. To date, they have not issued any decision calling that transfer into question.
As a result, the injunctions of the Minister of State in charge of Justice and Keeper of the Seals in this case do not replace judgments and constitute a breach of justice and an unfortunate unfortunate precedent, especially since she herself cannot act as a judicial body, according to Congolese law.
According to the information in our possession on the basis of the above-mentioned Expert Report, the company Afrimet Resources of Hadley Natus, currently President of Tantalex, and its subsidiaries, including the company COPROCO owe "UC SAS" money. According to estimates made at the time for a member of the current government interested in this file, it would be a sum around 9,146,488 USD, distributed as follows:
- USD 8,650,000 for 69.2 metric tons of coltan;
- USD 271,800 for 15 tonnes of unidentified ore if it is cassiterite; otherwise that is to say considering it as coltan the value will be 1.875.000USD which brings the overall value to 10.749.688USD;
- 224.688USD for 12.4 tons of cassiterite.
The quantity of minerals indicated above was exploited illegally and fraudulently in the concessions of "UC SAS" and then evacuated, clandestinely, in flagrant and prejudicial violation of the provisions of the commercial contracts which bound the two parties (UC and Afrimet/COPROCO).
Therefore, Your Excellency the Minister of Mines, we invite the Government of the Republic, particularly your Ministry and that of Justice as well as all the services and establishments dependent on it including the Mining Cadastre to take into account all the elements mentioned above, to respect the decisions of Justice valid to date and to draw all the consequences of law and administration towards foreign citizens Eric Allard and Hadley Natus on what concerns "UC SAS" (and its mining permits) to which they owe millions of US dollars for tens of tons of coltan fraudulently taken from Research Permits, contrary to Congolese laws including the revised Mining Code and Regulations. This would be a significant contribution on your part to the improvement of the business climate and at the same time would allow the communities where the minerals were extracted to benefit from the mining royalty on exported products.
Finally, in the name of respect for the laws of the Republic and the principles of transparency, that all the relevant services of the Ministry of Mines and Comining as well as Tantalex Lithium Resources Corporation may publish the Final Feasibility Study and the Social and Environmental Impact Study having obtained favorable opinions required by the mining law in order to obtain your instruction to the Mining Cadastre to transform the PR concerned into PE that famous junior listed in Canada and Germany.
Hoping that this letter will receive your special attention, please accept, Your Excellency, the expression of our patriotic sentiments.
For the signatory organizations and citizen platforms,
Me Timothée Mbuya Justicia
