Congo's Gecamines offers to buy some of Khazakh miner ERG's copper assets

Erg SA

13/02/2024 10:35

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      Gecamines wants to claim back assets owned by partners
    

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      Congo miner boss says has funding to buy some ERG assets 
    

  
    By Felix  Njini and Veronica Brown
       CAPE TOWN, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Congo state miner
Gecamines said it has made a firm proposal to buy some of
Eurasian Resources Group's copper and cobalt assets in the
country in a bid to claw back projects owned by partners and
build reserves in metals key to the green transition.
    The Democratic Republic of Congo's mining unit wants to buy
three of the Khazakh miner's assets in the country and has funds
to finance the purchase, Robert Lukama, the chairman of
Gecamines told Reuters.
    Lukama declined to name the projects or mines Gecamines
wants to buy but said the company is targeting three of ERG's
several assets in the world's top cobalt supplier. 
    ERG didn't immediately respond to emailed questions.
    "We have a firm proposal and we can confirm our proposal,"
Lukama said in an interview. "We showed our seriousness and we
showed that we have the means to buy the assets."
    Luxembourg-based ERG is 40% owned by the Kazakhstan
government and its assets in Congo include Frontier mine,
Comide, Metalkol, Boss Mining and some development and
near-production assets.
    Gecamines, which ranked among the world's top copper
producers in the 1980s, is pushing for a bigger role in
production and supply of critical minerals. Last year the state
miner said it was leveraging its shareholding in joint ventures
to secure rights to buy and trade in copper and cobalt.
    Gecamines' offer is not conditional on the level of
development or state assets are in and the miner is working hard
to find common ground with ERG, Lukama said.
    "We made an offer to buy some assets of ERG in good shape or
not, it doesn't matter for us," he said. "We are still confident
that we can convince them where the best interests are for us,
for them and for the country."
    He added that Gecamines is focused on creating value and is
"entitled" to claim back undeveloped assets.
    ERG has been negotiating with DRC authorities to lift the
suspension of its Boss Mining operations. The government halted
the operations in June last year after accusing ERG of polluting
the environment. 
    Lukama said the loss of production at Boss Mining is
depriving both shareholders of revenue. Gecamines owns a 49%
stake in Boss Mining, which targets producing about 25,000 tons
of copper and more than 3,000 tons of cobalt annually.
    
    

 (Reporting by Felix  Njini; Editing by Susan Fenton)
 ((Felix.Njini@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging:
felix.njini@thomsonreuters.com))