20/11/2022
DRC - Mines: COMINIERE SA accused of blocking the Manono Lithium production project, this mineral prized in the manufacture of electric batteries (Civil Society)
The Congolese state portfolio company COMINIERE SA is accused of continuing to multiply illegal maneuvers to block the effective start-up of Dathcom's lithium mining project
Mining SA, in Manono, Tanganyika province.
The denunciation is made by the organizations and platforms of the society under Congolese law, in a press release whose copy reached the drafting of 7SUR7. CD this Sunday, November 20, 2022.
They want as proof of this the call for tender described as unregular launched in September 2022 by the general management of COMINIERE SA for the rehabilitation work of the power plants in Mpiana - Mwanga, which they believe are abandoned.
An irregular call for tenders
This press release points out that this call for tenders sufficiently demonstrates how much COMINIERE SA is keen, against all odds, to block the effective start of the work of the lithium mining project, this mineral prized in the manufacture of electric batteries, essential in the fight against the global warming against which the DRC is positioning itself in a solution country.
For civil society, COMINIERE SA and the Ministry of Portfolio cannot offer the rehabilitation market for these power plants to the Chinese company Zijin, as stated by a COMINIERE delegate at the meeting held on November 12, 2022 in Manono.
They recall that the Congolese government has already signed an agreement with AVZ POWER SARLU to rehabilitate the plants concerned in compliance with the laws of the country and the international standards in the sector to provide energy to Dathcom Mining SA for its mining operations as well as to public and private schools and hospitals (health centers) in Manono and its surroundings, not to mention a quantity to be used by the State for the electrification of the city of Manono and Mpiana-Mwanga.
President Tshisekedi called to ensure the integrity of the leaders of the COMINIERE
Based on this observation, civil society asks President Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi to ensure that the climate of trust reigns between the shareholders of the joint venture Dathcom Mining SA so that operating operations begin urgently and to give orders to the state services for Dathcom Mining SA to be notified and that the 10% of action of the State are effectively registered in the register of the Mining Cadastre, in accordance with
mining legislation.
The Congolese Head of State is also invited to ensure that the people proposed by the Ministry of the Portfolio are honest and will defend the interests of the State in Dathcom Mining SA, United Cominière SA and others partnership companies at COMINIERE SA and to prohibit any interference or interference of certain members of the government, institutions and cabinets at the national level and in the provinces with direct or indirect interests with this
state enterprise.
To the Prime Minister-in-Chief of Government, the company's organizations and platforms recommend asking the Minister of the Portfolio, in accordance with the conclusions of the Report of the IGF, to urgently recruit by selective testing of new representatives to direct the COMMINIERE, "leased for years in the hands of two people (the Deputy Director General and the Technical Director) who
impose their will at the expense of the interests of local communities and the Republic."
Stop sowing confusion
The Minister of the Portfolio is asked to stop causing confusion and play a role that blocks the development of the mining project of Dathcom Mining SA, to take into account the conclusions of the IGF roadmap (Report) on its poor role in the illegal sale of the 15% of the shares to a Zijin company as well as the sale of the assets of Cominière SA by its interim management, then draw all the factual conclusions and of law.
The Minister of the Portfolio is also called upon to respect and support the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the Government of the Republic, at
through the Minister in charge of the energy sector, and AVZ POWER SAU, for the rehabilitation of Mpiana-Mwanga power plants.
For his part, the Minister of Hydrocarbons and Electricity Resources is invited to ensure that the rehabilitation work of the Mpiana-Mwanga power plants is carried out normally given the agreement signed with AVZ POWER SAU which engages the entire government and the DRC and to ensure with its portfolio colleague that the COMINIERE SA Management ceases to create an additional blockage against the effective start of the work of Dathcom's lithium mining project
Mining SA.
Leaders of the COMINIERE called to resign
Finally, the leaders of COMINIERE SA are called upon to resign taking into account the conclusions of the General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF) on their management and the sale of the assets of this state enterprise.
The organizations and platforms of civil society in the DRC that signed this press release are: CDH, ESPOIR ONGDH, JUSTICIA Asbl, LICOCO, MAX IMPACT, MDR, POM, RCEN, RDN Asbl, CERN/CENCO AND TPRDC.
ODN
La société du portefeuille de l'Etat congolais COMINIERE SA est accusée de continuer à multiplier les manœuvres illégales pour bloquer le démarrage effectif du projet minier de lithium de Dathcom Mining SA, à Manono, dans la province de Tanganyika. La dénonciation est faite par les...
7sur7.cd
20/11/2022
Civil Society points to the culprit and mobilizes to save the Manono lithium mining project
November 20, 2022 Faustin KUEDIASALA 0
The lithium mining project in Manono, in the province of Tanganyika, is stalling. And civil society, evolving in the natural resources sector, does not hesitate to name the culprit: Cominière (Congolese mining company), this company of the State Portfolio born from the vestiges of Zaire-Etain.
In a statement, made simultaneously, on November 20, 2022, in Kinshasa, Kolwezi, Lubumbashi and Bukavu, these Civil Society Organizations note that "the management of Cominière SA must stop blocking Manono's development and undermining the presidential energy policy and the development of 145 territories by multiplying strategies to block Dathcom Mining".
From the outset, these Civil Society Organizations specialized in natural resources issues say they note "agitation and maneuvers on the part of certain administrative and judicial government services as well as Cominière SA in order to freeze the notification of the Operating Permit of Dathcom Mining SA and communicate to it the total amount of surface rights due to the State; this constitutes serious damage not only for the Congolese party of this mineral prized in the manufacture of electric batteries essential in the fight against global warming against which the DRC is positioning itself as a solution country for the global energy transition".
They base their conviction on documented investigations with the ministry that manages electricity in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
"Taking into account these known facts of the Cominière SA Directorate and the string shooters to be identified", these Organizations "eviously and patriotic" recommend that the country's authorities do everything possible to remove all the locks that block the effective start of the Manono lithium project.
Especially to the President of the Republic, these Organizations are waiting to see him: "ensure that the climate of trust prevails among the shareholders of Dathcom Mining SA so that operating operations begin urgently; give orders to the state services for Dathcom Mining SA to be notified and that the 10% of the State's share is effectively recorded in the register of the mining Cadastre in accordance institutions and cabinets at the national level and in the provinces with direct or indirect interests with this state company". Completeness of their press release.
Eco news
Le projet d’exploitation du lithium de Manono, dans la province du Tanganyika, piétine. Et la Société civile, évoluant dans le secteur des ressources naturelles, n’hésite <a class="mh-excerpt-more"...
econewsrdc.com
21/11/2022
DRC: La Cominière in the sights of the 12 NGOs
Denise Maheho
November 21, 2022
news,
Headlines,
Mines
A dozen national organizations accuse the public company Cominière S A of blocking the Manono Lithium project. Indeed, to start the exploitation of this strategic ore, there is a prerequisite, it is access to electrical energy. However, discussions about the rehabilitation of the Mpyana Mwanga hydroelectric plants seem to be skating.
In a statement published on November 20, 12 civil society organizations return to the chronology of the facts that illustrate this blockage. Since colonial times, the Manono territory has housed two hydroelectric dams belonging to Cominière SA to this day. This is Mpyana Mwanga I and II located 87 km from the center of Manono. However, these dams require rehabilitation because they were destroyed during the 1997-1998 war.
Because the restoration of electrical energy in Manono is an imperative for the exploitation of Lithium by AVZ Mineral.
Discussions at a standstill
As a result, AVZ POWER SAU, another Australian company, in June 2019 expressed its interest in a hydroelectric development project at the Mpiana-Mwanga site. This was followed not only by several correspondence exchanges with the Congolese State but also field missions. A technical coordination committee has even been created, one of whose members is the representative of the Cominière.
Then, on January 13, 2020, the DRC signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the company AVZ POWER SAU. This concerned the rehabilitation of the Mpiana-Mwanga I and II hydroelectric plants. And in March 2020, AVZ POWER SAU sent the Ministry of Hydraulic Resources the feasibility study of the Mpiana-Mwanga hydroelectric power plant. In addition, the company continued with studies and downsings on the ground that led to the approval of the feasibility study in April 2021.
In addition, the file is taking another turn in 2022. Cominiere SA, owner of the Mpyana Mwanga power plants, is launching a call for tenders. According to civil society organizations, this public company claims that the so-called central plants are abandoned. A Chinese company Zijin would even be selected to carry out rehabilitation work. A situation that creates confusion and blocks the progress of the Lithium mining project deplores NGOs. They are thus asking the government to restore order and respect its commitments to AVZ POWER.
La Cominière s'oppose-t-elle à la réhabilitation des centrales hydroélectriques de Mpyana Mwanga par AVZ POWER ?
magazinelaguardia.info
