DRC natural resources press review of Monday, July 29, 2013

The Potentiel newspaper reports that Dan Gertler, the Israeli businessman installed in the DRC since 1997, has not invested in copper and cobalt from Katanga. It is also present in the East where he began the exploration of gold (Watsa) and oil (Kasenyi Lake Albert) province. The particularity of Dan Gertler is he does not expect to have realized the benefits of its investments in order to initiate social activities with local communities make better use. Wherever he moved, roads, hospitals, schools, universities, airports, bridges, water and electricity are its indelible mark. After Katanga, the newspaper said, his special envoy made the same observation in the Eastern Province

Ecofin Agency informs that the giant Swiss Glencore Xstrata managed to merge its two subsidiaries Mutanda Mining and Kansuki, Democratic Republic of the Congo, taking control the new entity that indirectly holds 54.5%. The giant commodities would seek further. It has totally hold this together and plans to acquire the remaining shares, especially as 14.5% High Grade Minerals currently holds the end of December 2013. Glencore Xstrata postponed, between 2016 and 2018, the acquisition of 31% with Rowny Assets which is still present in the new entity. Until their merger, the subsidiary Mutanda held deposits of copper and cobalt. It produced in 2012 about 87 000 tonnes of copper and 9,000 tonnes of cobalt, while Kansuki is a mining field of copper and cobalt covering approximately 185 km2.

Citing Sector Sustainable Development Director at the World Bank, Jamal Saghir, Forum des As newspaper indicates that the Inga project in its evolution, that is to say the current phase and future, should become a reality because the Democratic Republic of Congo is fortunate to have one of the world's most extraordinary hydraulic sites. It can produce electricity at a very cheap cost for the benefit of the Congolese people and the Sub-region. In an interview with the press Friday, July 26, 2013 at the end of his three-day mission in the DRC, Jamal Saghir said that during his stay in Kinshasa, he had discussions with the Congolese authorities including the Prime Minister Augustin Matata Ponyo. Most of these discussions have focused on the WB projects, especially on the Inga project in its developments.Radio Okapi reports that the communities of Kunda Libanza and Mbanza Ngwambele to compete with knives since the beginning of the week around the exploitation of fish ponds Budjala in the province of Ecuador. Several houses were burned and canoes destroyed during the clashes. A delegation from the local Conciliation Committee for Peace visited Thursday, July 25 in Gemena, capital of South Ubangi, to alert the district authorities and leaders of MONUSCO.According to them, it has long been that the two communities are vying for control of a fishing ground. The situation escalated when youth community Ngwambele assaulted Kunda who refused to pay a tax that were first introduced on a road they maintained.The same source reports that a mail train National Society of Railway Congo (SNCC) crashed in the night from Wednesday to Thursday, July 25 a tanker loaded with sulfuric acid on the road Kamina - Lubumbashi. A portion of this product is discharged into the river Dipeta Fungurume city located 195 km west of Lubumbashi in Katanga. The head of the city asked the locals not to drink water until further notice. As a result, traffic was banned within the scope of the accident. The accident occurred at 23 hours local time, when a train from Lubumbashi Kamina to hit the back of a tanker truck that crossed the crossing. According to witnesses of the event, both the tank trailer truck owned by the company Saya Zambia were partially damaged, leaving leak acid.According to the same sources, no loss of life was recorded. Thursday at 5:00 in the morning, some people rushed to leaks to collect the acid. They believed, witnesses said that it was the lubricant, commonly known as "motor oil." Result: three slightly burned people and Dipeta river polluted by sulfuric acid.