11 July 2007
Critics argue that OPIC's expected investment in the Tenke Fungurume mine appears to prejudge the outcomes of the ongoing government review process.
Civil society groups today issued a statement demanding that US, Canadian, and EU public lenders await the outcome of an ongoing government review of mining contracts in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) before investing in the Tenke Fungurume copper mine in the country's Katanga province. The Tenke deal is among the 60 contracts signed over the last decade, during the Congolese civil war and under the transitional government, that are currently under examination by an interministerial commission in Kinshasa.
The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) is slated to approve a guarantee and investment for the project tomorrow. Other public lenders such as Export Development Canada (EDC) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) are expected to follow suit. Approving financing for Tenke before the Congolese government concludes the contract review, which only began June 18th, seems to prejudge its outcomes or at least sends a clear signal about its expected results.
The Tenke project covers what is reportedly the world's largest untapped copper-cobalt deposit.
Read the civil society statement:
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