DRC seeks 'modern investors' for its R460-trillion mineral deposits
Last week, DRC President Felix Tshisekedi said his government was negotiating with a consortium of Chinese investors.
Lefty Shivambu/Lefty Shivambu
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is seeking investors to work with the country's private sector, particularly in the extractive industry, where there's an estimated R460 trillion in untapped mineral deposits.
This was the pitch by Miguel Kashal Katemb - Director-General of the Regulatory Authority for Subcontracting in the Private Sector (ARSP) in the DRC - at the Mining Indaba in Cape Town on Tuesday.
He said his country was looking for "modern investors", those that concentrate on equity funds and focus on exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
"We have many big investors in the DRC already, but we need modern investors. We are looking for investors who can help build a new world for the Congolese people, where the social and economic benefits of investments are shared widely," he said.
Katemb singled out Canadian mining firm Ivanhoe Mines as one such "modern investor".
Ivanhoe Mines is involved in the development of new mines at the Kamoa-Kakula copper discoveries in the DRC.
It is also involved in the revival of the Kipushi zinc-copper-germanium-silver mine.
At the Mining Indaba in Cape Town, Ivanhoe Mines founder and executive co-chair Robert Friedland and the company's president Marna Cloete announced that they would be using the corridor to the Angolan port of Lobito for exports.
The DRC's biggest challenge is infrastructure.
READ | Mineral rich DRC, world's top cobalt producer, signs deals to make electric vehicle batteries
Last week President Felix Tshisekedi, addressing foreign missions assigned to Kinshasa, said his government was negotiating with a consortium of Chinese investors in Sicomines mining.
Under the new deal, Tshisekedi said R133 billion ($7 billion) received by the treasury would be used for infrastructure projects. Under the original deal, Chinese investors were supposed to build R56 billion worth of infrastructure across the country.
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