Representatives of major international mining companies active in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have submitted a formal proposal to the country's Ministry of Mines that they say is designed to address their concerns about the recently-revised mining code as well as the government's revenue needs.
Among other things, the proposal includes linking a sliding scale of royalty rates to the prices of the key commodities. Mining industry representatives said in a joint statement that they believe this would be a more effective mechanism than the windfall tax introduced in the new code and that at current prices would immediately give the government a higher share of revenues than is currently provided in the new code. The proposal also deals with stability arrangements, state guarantees and mining conventions. A legal and technical team...