DAKAR, Jan 27 (Reuters) – The Democratic Republic of
Congo and its Chinese investors have reached an agreement over
their Sicomines copper and cobalt joint venture, they said in a
statement on Saturday, with the Chinese investing up to $7
billion in infrastructure projects.
Both parties agreed to maintain the current structure of
the shareholding, while the Chinese partners, including
Sinohydro and China Railway group, will pay 1.2% of royalties
annually to Congo, the statement said.
Congo is the world’s biggest producer of cobalt, a key
component in batteries for electric cars and mobile phones. It
is also the world’s third-largest copper producer and holds
significant deposits of lithium, tin, tungsten, tantalum and
gold.
The Congolese mining sector, particularly its copper and
cobalt mines, is now largely dominated by Chinese companies.
(Reporting by Sonia Rolley, Writing by Portia Crowe, Editing by
William Maclean and Nick Macfie)