6.5.1. Sinohydro and China Railway Engineering Corporation
Through the Sicomines deal that was struck in 2008 utilising agreement, a Sino- Congolese joint venture would furnish the DRC with the much-needed infrastructural investments in the interchange for mineral concessions of the Katanga province and other rich mineral provinces in the country (Burke et al., 2009). The Sicomines deal is the composite of the initial China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC) and Chinese companies Sinohydro including a DRC state-owned company of Gecamines (Rapanyane & Shai, 2019b).
6.5.2. Other companies
Other companies include the Congo Dong Bang Mining (CDM): Lubumbashi smelter and Kolwezi Depot and Congo Loyal Will Mining: Lubumbashi smelter, COTA Mining.
Others include Emmanuel Mining: Kolwezi depot, Huachin: smelters in Lubumbashi and Likasi, Jia Xing: Kolwezi depot, JMT: Kolwezi depot. Others include Song Hua.
COTA, Luc Ndubula Mining, and Kamoto Copper Company including the Feza Mining:
Likasi smelter are amongst the many Chinese companies with extensive operations in the DRC (Rights & Accountability in Development, 2009; Molintas, 2013).
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6.5.3. Overview of Jia Xing Mining Industry Congo, Feza Mining and Metal Mines
The Chinese companies have been purchasing minerals from both the formal and informal sectors within the DRC Katanga province and alternative mineral-rich provinces for many years. It is well-known that the reliance of China on imported copper fixate on the increasing growth of its domestic ore production is on higher levels. During the last 2-3 decades especially in the early 2000s, Chinese traders used to operate within the informal sector where traders would often operate secretly by purchasing the ore from middlemen or forthwith from artisanal miners which were then transported across the Zambian border for further processing (Rights & Accountability in Development, 2009). In the year 2005:
Officially recorded copper exports from industrial and artisanal sources were 27,925 tonnes of copper metal and 177,310 copper concentrates. Cobalt exports were 17,770 metric tonnes of cobalt and 84,835 metric tonnes of cobalt concentrates (Rights & Accountability in Development, 2009: 20).
In between the years 2001 and 2005, a projected 75% to 90% of the ores and concentrates that were China imported originated in the DRC. This is because most of the Chinese brokers used to be gloomy figures glimpsed on the outskirts of the mine and if anyone tried to ask them questions or photograph them including filming them, they would violently react to such conduct (Rights & Accountability in Development, 2009). Since the year 2005, Chinese entrepreneurs including private companies have been openly operating in the Katanga province. Companies like Congo Loyal Will Mining and Huachin have since been permitted to buy and process heterogenite from artisanal miners. Amongst all companies active within the Katanga province, the 2008 World Bank report has highlighted that 10 active mining companies traded on the global stock exchange (Rights & Accountability in Development, 2009; Molintas, 2013).
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The interest and influence of crucial Chinese companies cannot be overemphasised in the need to access the DRC cobalt and copper mining sector. China possesses a very strategic and long-term approach to the African continent. It would also seem like most of the Chinese companies are part of the regional and integrated investment strategies in various nation-states. The local processing plants, smelters including trading houses repeatedly have close partnerships with bigger Chinese enterprises;
many of which have cross border interlinkages with the Chinese companies in alternative nation-states in the same region such as those found in South Africa and Zambia (Molintas, 2013). There are also state-owned companies such as the China Nonferrous Metal Mining Corporation (CNMC) which holds 85% shareholding through the NFC Africa Mining company (it is a subsidiary) in the Chambishi Mine in Zambia.
Chambishi is amongst the many Nonferrous metal mines that managed to obtain the Chinese government’s approval for the development abroad. This is an important symbol of the growing Sino-African cooperation (Molintas, 2013).
5.3.2.1. Jia Xing Mining Industry Congo
This is subservient to the Yingkou BL Mining Company Ltd, a conglomerate company, initially located within the Liaoning province of China. This company is a composite of the Eletro-refined plant and Yingkou BL Mining Company refractory plant in China.
Despite the Jiaxing Mining Industry Congo, Yingkou possesses an extra two African mega corporations: TCKY Mining South Africa (PTY) Limited and Jiaxing Mining Zambia Limited. The company has also been diversified into the nonferrous industry with operations in Africa focusing on cobalt and copper ore prospecting, smelting and mining. The main products have been other ores and blister copper. Their African conglomerates have more than 1200 employees and all their technical and managerial staff are imported from China’s head offices. The Jiaxing Mining industry Congo was established in the year 2007 and still has operations with employees of more than 350 people, composite of 200 Congolese and 150 Chinese (Rights & Accountability in Development, 2009; Molintas, 2013).
5.3.2.2. Feza Mining
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This is a joint business between Wanbao Resources Corporation and Comide, a conglomerate of the Wanbao Mining Limited. Wanbao Mining was established in the DRC in the year 2005 through the approval of the Beijing government and is headquartered in Beijing. Fan Zhenshui (Former Chinese Ambassador to DRC) and Augustin Katumba Mwanke (Former Katanga Governor) were present during the inauguration of the Feza Mining’s polymetallurgical plant in April 2005. This is whereby Kabumba Mwanke has yielded huge influence over the allocation of the mining rights of the Katanga Province for many years, and his presence has shown that he had supported China’s involvement in the DRC’s Katanga province (Molintas 2013).
COMIDE on the other side is broadly known to be a joint business between Gecamines and CICO whereby Joseph Kabila had huge interests in the latter. The Chinese ordnance company called the Noringo has utilised the revenue generated from the operations of this business deal to pay for the arms delivery. Also, it has been historically reported that Mama SIFA (The mother of DRC's Former President Kabila) had huge interests in the Feza mining, whereby the Israel-based DGI international Ltd Ramat Gan held shares too (Molintas, 2013).
5.3.2.3. Metal Mines
This is a by-product of the Hanrui Cobalt that was established in the year 2007 and went straight into production in March 2008. This was with a considerable “initial annual production capacity of 1500-2000 MT Coarse Cobalt Carbonate and 20000- 30000 MT Cobalt Concentrates” (Rights & Accountability in Development, 2009: 22).
Metal mines are also extensively engaged in the marketing and sales of related cobalt products. This company is located within the Likasi Industrial Zone. The Hanrui Cobalt holds 70% of the shares in the Metal mines whilst unspecified local shareholders hold the remaining 30%. Metal mines employ 50-60 local workers including 30 Chinese nationals (Molintas, 2013). This is also one of the ten foreign-invested businesses permitted to export staple cobalt products. We also have the Nanjing Hanrui Cobalt Co Ltd which is one of the biggest intercontinental megacorporations in China that bought the three high-grade copper-cobalt mines in the DRC’s Lubumbashi. This follows as it has grown over the past two decades to now ranking to be the leading
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cobalt power producer in Asia and top three globally (Rights & Accountability in Development, 2009).