Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi orders audit of mining licenses | Mining News

The Congolese leader says the measure is aimed at tackling fraud in the profit sector.

Felix Tshisekedi, President of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has demanded that mining permits be issued and a ban on trade pending an inspection of the country’s mining register, a measure to combat fraud in the sector.

Tshisekedi told ministers he wanted to put an end to the wastage of mining assets by unnamed political actors and officials involved in the administration of the mining register that records mining concessions, according to minutes of a meeting of Reuters news agency on Saturday.

“This recommended cleanup will increase the contribution of the mining sector to the state budget and, as a matter of priority, will help the people to benefit from the mineral wealth of our country,” Tshisekedik told ministers.

The movement is a continuation of Tshisekedi review of agreements Joseph Kabila hit his predecessor, including a $ 6 billion “mineral” deal with Chinese investors.

The DRC is the world’s largest producer of cobalt and Africa’s largest copper producer, but more than 70 percent of its 100 million people live on less than $ 1.90 a day, according to the World Bank.

Transparency activists have estimated that the DRC has earned billions of dollars from mining contracts in the last two decades.

Tshisekedi won the presidency through a power-sharing deal with Kabila after the controversial 2018 elections, but has gradually taken over almost all government levers, political analysts say, and has become increasingly clear about Kabila’s mining deals.

Licensing should be revoked for mining companies that do not fulfill their administrative and social obligations, Tshiseked told Mining Minister Antoinette N’Samba.

N’Samba asked the state to identify mining companies that did not earn 10 percent of the shares when the permit went from exploration to exploitation, as required by the mining code.