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Gecamines

" DRC opposition says Chinese $9 billion deal unfair"

"MINING CONCESSIONS EYED"
"Good for China - $5 billion for the DRC"

"DRC says mining review won’t leave a single contract untouched" (Source: Mining Weekly)

"Congo panel says 61 mining contracts not viable"

Congo-Kinshasa: Contract Review - Its Strategic And Economic Significance (Source: Fahamu (Oxford))

"DRC needs sound legal systems, says World Bank"

Aluminium

BHP Billiton is investigating a bauxite deposit in the country's southwest Bas-Congo province, near the Inga hydropower station on the Congo river with the view of opening up a mine and refinery. BHP Billiton already produces aluminum at refineries in South Africa and Mozambique, where it secured cheap supplies of power from Eskom. The company and the DRC government announced in October, 2007 that they are together investing about $8bn in a planned hydro power station at Inga and smelter. The DRC government was planning the giant Inga 3 power plant on the Congo River to produce a maximum of about 4,000 megawatts. BHP Billiton signed an agreement with the government to fund the project's feasibility study in exchange for up to 2,000 megawatts of its power to keep its smelter running. Production would be about 800,000 t of metal. Timing of first production depended on when the power station was built as the building of a power plant takes a minimum of five years and an aluminium smelter around three years.

Cobalt

Africa produces 42% of the world’s cobalt. Cobalt is produced primarily from the Zambian/DRC Copperbelt along with copper and as a by-product of the Bushveld Platinum mines in South Africa.

For over 70 years, the Katanga Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been an important producer of copper and cobalt to the world markets. In the 1980s, the country’s copper output amounted to around seven per cent of global production.
Since the early 1990s, the unstable social and political environment in the country has led to a gradual decline in production. Without ongoing maintenance, the condition of most of the facilities has deteriorated and production has declined to virtually zero.
Following independence from Belgium, the mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo were nationalised in 1967 and became owned by Gécamines (La Générale des Carrières et des Mines), a state owned mining company.

Tenke Mining Corporation (Canadian) has completed a feasibility study for the first phase of production at the Tenke Fungurume copper/cobalt project in Katanga Province. Facilities have been designed to initially produce approximately 115,000 metric tonnes per annum of London Grade A quality copper cathode and 8,000 tpa of cobalt in any combination of cobalt metal or intermediate cobalt hydroxide. Freeport-McMoran, who now controls operations, announced in May 2007, that the mine is to start up in October 2008 and would ship copper first. Shipment of cobalt hydroxide, an intermediary product, would begin in December 2008. Tenkwe is owned 24,75% by Tenke Mining Corp, 57,75% by Freeport through Phelps Dodge Corporation ("Phelps Dodge") and 17,5% by Gecamines, the DRC State mining company. Lundin Mining Corporation (LUN.TO, AMEX:LMC) and Tenke Mining Corp. announced on 10 April 2007 that they have entered into a definitive agreement to combine the two companies to form an intermediate base metals company. The 40-year mine plan is based on first developing the Kwatebala, Fwaulu and Goma deposits. Proven/probable ore reserves developed by Phelps Dodge to U.S. SEC standards for these three areas are 103 million metric tonnes, grading 2,1% copper and 0,3% cobalt (proven 22 million tonnes grading 2,2% copper and 0,30% cobalt, probable 81 million tonnes grading 2,1% copper and 0,31% cobalt). During 2006, approximately 16,000 meters of drilling was performed under the direction of Phelps Dodge for infilling, reserve confirmation, step-out exploration and condemnation. During the 2006 drilling program, mineralization in three new areas just west of Kwatebala was discovered (Mwinansefu, Ditoma and Shinkusu). Concession exploration for 2007, which includes further resource definition drilling at these new areas, is budgeted to accomplish approximately 45,000 meters of drilling. The intent is to have significant additional proven/probable ore reserves defined by the time the initial facilities go into operation to support potential expansions in the early years of initial operations. In accordance with Canadian National Instrument 43-101 standards, the Measured and Indicated Resources for the Tenke Fungurume concessions are 235 million tonnes of 3,01% copper and 0,31% cobalt (Measured 126 million tonnes grading 3,44% copper and 0,33% cobalt and Indicated 109 million tonnes grading 2,52% copper and 0,28% cobalt), with Inferred resources providing an additional 265 million tonnes of 2,6% copper and 0,19% cobalt.

Nikanor plc, through the company’s joint venture agreement with Gécamines, owns mining permits for three open-pit mines in the DRC: KOV, Tilwezembe and Kananga. The company plans to redevelop these mines, bringing Tilwezembe and Kananga into production in the second half of 2006 and the second half of 2007 respectively, and KOV, the company’s principal asset, by the end of 2009. The KOV mine consists of 4 ore bodies: Kamoto, Oliveira, Virgule, FNSR. It was mined from 1960 to 2000 and 38 million tonnes of ore were mined at an average grade of 5,8% Cu. The resource estimate is 172 million tonnes of ore averaging 5,1% Cu and 0,5% cobalt; theestimated contained metal at 9 million tonnes copper, 800,000 tonnes cobalt. Planned estimated mine life is 30 years. The Kolwezi concentrator is currently processing ore from both Kananga and Tilwezembe. Resources are estimated for Tilwezembe: 5,7 million tonnes (indicated) at 5% copper, 1.0% cobalt, and for Kananga: 6,9 million tonnes (inferred) at 1% copper, 1,3% cobalt. Drilling to increase resources are taking place. Katanga Mining Ltd agreed in November, 2007,to buy Nikanor Plc for about $2 billion to create the world's largest cobalt producer and save both companies about $700 million.

Katanga Mining Ltd , in a joint venture with the Congolese state-owned mining company, Gécamines, is rehabilitating a major copper-cobalt mine at Kolwezi in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Production at the high-grade Kamoto Mine will begin in late 2007. Once fully operational, it will produce 150,000 tonnes of copper and 5,000 tonnes of cobalt a year at one of the world’s lowest operating costs. The Kamoto mine complex was one of the most productive parts of its operations. The Kamoto underground mine began operation in 1969. It produced an average of three million tonnes of ore a year during the 1980s and to date has produced 59,3 million tonnes of ore, with an average copper content of 4,21 per cent and an average cobalt content of 0,37 per cent. The open pit mines, Dikuluwe, Mashamba East and Mashamba West (together known as DIMA) began operation in 1975, 1984 and 1978 respectively. To date, 57,7 million tonnes of ore has been produced with an average copper content of 4,96 per cent and an average cobalt content of 0,16 per cent. At the peak of production in 1986, a total of 5,5 million tonnes was mined from these pits. By 1998, due to lack of funds, the pits were allowed to flood. No significant production has so far come from the Musonoie-T17 open pit mine. Central African Mining & Exploration Company plc obtained a 11,37% shareholding in Katanga Mining which was increased to 22% by a further purchase of shares on 4 May 2007. Katanga Mining has raised $150m towards its project in the Democratic Republic of Congo in a transaction that has a ten-year offtake agreement.
The one-year loan from Glencore is at an interest rate of LIBOR plus four percent. Glencore can convert to loan into 9.16 million Katanga shares. Katanga has 78 million shares in issue.
Glencore will buy 100% of Katanga's copper and cobalt output for a decade at market terms. Katanga Mining agreed in November, 2007,to buy Nikanor Plc for about $2 billion. The combined assets will have an annual output of 400,000 tonnes of refined copper and 40,000 tonnes of cobalt a year by 2011.
Katanga Mining's DRC/China copper/cobalt conundrum (Source: Mineweb)
Katanga agrees to sell DRC deposits to govt for $825m (Source: Mining Weekly)
DRC/Chinese/Katanga Mining copper/cobalt deal explained (Source: Mineweb)

Central African Mining & Exploration Company plc (CAMEC), who owns a copper and cobalt processing facility at Luita, Katanga Province, is exploring the C19, C21 concession areas, using existing data obtained from Gecamines and Union Miniere, with an indicated total resource of 1,5 million tonnes of copper and 500,000 tonnes of cobalt, contained in 70 million tonnes of ore. Camec built up a 22 per cent stake in Katanga Mining. It has also secured soft irrevocables for a further 54 per cent, including the 24 per cent stake held by George Forrest, the largest shareholder in Katanga and one of the powerbrokers in the DRC's mining industry. In August, 2007, Camec was about to make an £800m offer for Katanga Mining. Organic growth alone will enable Camec to produce some 100,000 tonnes of copper and between 6,000-12,000 tonnes of cobalt by the end of 2008. But by taking over Katanga, the company could be producing as much as 250,000 tonnes of copper, according to the company. The justice ministry released a statement at the end of August, 2007, detailing the revocation of the licences. It said C19 has reverted to state-owned miner Gecamines. Camec withdrew its bid for Katanga.
Camec said in an overview of the company its Luita metallurgical plant in DRC would be supplied by concessions C19 and C21 and would produce at an annualised rate of 40,000 tonnes of copper and 6,000 tonnes of cobalt by March, 2008. However, the licences to these two concessions are amongst those revoked by the government. C19 is the most important to Camec. CAMEC announced in November, 2007, that it had formed an alliance with Prairie International Ltd, whose investors include the family of Israel's Dan Gertler, to develop the Mukondo deposit and four other areas in Democratic Republic of Congo. The joint venture company will own, operate and develop Mukondo Mountain as well as the mining concession areas previously known as C17, C18, C19 and C21. CAMEC will transfer its 80% stake in BOSS Mining, a DRC-registered company, into the joint venture company. BOSS holds half of Mukondo Mining and concessions C19 and C21, for which the government has revoked the licences. The matter is before the courts in the Congo. Central African Mining and Exploration plans to re-start production at what it says is the world's largest cobalt deposit Mukondo with its joint venture partner Prairie International at the beginning of 2008 to supply the market with 6,000 t of cobalt in 2008. The Mukondo deposit contains 350,000 t of cobalt, of which 250,000 t would be recovered over a period of 15 years.
"Camec selling the family silver through lack of copper and cobalt"(Source: Mineweb)
' Camec doubles stake in CRC '

Anvil Mining Ltd (AVM.TO, AVLMF.PK) has one high-grade copper-silver open pit mine that has been in production since 2002, a high grade copper tailings retreatment operation that entered production in late 2005, and an advanced copper-cobalt project currently under evaluation. The Dikulushi mine, Lake Mweru, Katanga Province, has a resource (Dec 2004) of 2,44 million tonnes of ore averaging 7,9% copper and 208 g/t silver. Production in 2005 amounted to 17,816 tonnes copper, 1,7 million ounces silver at an operating cash cost of $0.42/lb Cu. The Mutoshi project includes the Kulu copper tailings mine and the Mutoshi copper-cobalt mine in the Kolwezi region. The estimated resource amounts to 255,000 tonnes of contained copper. In 2005,16,500 tonnes of copper were recovered. At the Kinsevere, Tshifufia, Tshifufiamashi projects, 50 km north of Lubumbashi, estimated resources are 1,582,000 tonnes of contained copper from ore averaging 3,8% copper. The company is also exploring prospects at Lungeshi and Kapulo. Anvil Mining forecast a 10 percent increase in 2008 copper production but a big drop for silver on Wednesday, as it announced record 2007 production from its three mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Toronto-listed miner expects to produce more than 55,000 tonnes of copper and 1.3 million oz of silver in 2008. That compares with 47,633 tonnes of copper and 2.45 million oz of silver in 2007. Anvil operates and has majority stakes in the Dikulushi copper-silver mine, Kinsevere copper mine, and Kulu copper tailings operation.

International Barytex Resources Ltd (Canadian) holds an option to earn a 65% interest in the Shituru high grade copper-cobalt deposit located at Likasi, Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Shituru deposit is expected to support a high grade open pit mine with low operating cost and has untested underground potential. Barytex has an option to acquire up to an 86,67% interest in stages in East China Capital Investments Ltd. (ECCI) whose sole asset is an option to acquire a 75% share interest in the Shituru Copper-Cobalt deposit from Generale Des Carrieres et des Mines ("Gecamines"). When fully exercised the interests in the Shituru Property will be indirectly held as follows: 65% by Barytex, 25%, by Gecamines and 10% by the Optionors, Ever Noble Group Ltd. and Megatrend International Holdings Ltd (ENG-MIH). The zone of mineralization is approximately 800 m in strike length with widths of 17 meters for each of the zones exposed at surface.

Mwana Africa plc purchased Anmercosa Exploration (Congo) s.p.r.l. from Anglo American plc in early 2004. Anmercosa has mining exploration rights over approximately 10,000 square kilometres in the Katanga copper belt, which has showings of copper, zinc, cobalt and gold. As part of the purchase arrangements, Mwana Africa entered into a joint venture with Anglo American in respect of these mining exploration rights. Under the joint venture, Anmercosa is responsible for all feasibility study and other costs, and Anglo American has a carried interest in the joint venture. Anglo American may increase its stake in the joint venture if particular metal or mineral concentration is discovered, and will fund those discoveries to bankable feasibility study. Mwana Africa is also currently in negotiations with Gecamines, the DRC state copper mining company, relating to a previously worked copper/cobalt mine near Anmercosa’s exploration ground in Katanga. Production of copper/cobalt could begin soon after the finalisation of the agreement with Gecamines.

Africo Resources Ltd (Canadian, ARL.TO) is developing the Kalukundi Project located within the Kolwezi District of Katanga Province in the south-east of the DRC. The Kalukundi deposit has been defined through the evaluation of 4 fragments of Mines series rocks. An ore reserve of oxide materials has been defined within these 4 fragments of 7,8 million tonnes grading 2,44% Cu and 0,69% Co. The economics of the deposit are based on a production rate of 800,000 tonnes per year for nominal annual production of 16,400 tonnes per year copper and 3,800 tonnes per year cobalt.

Metorex reached an agreement with the Government of the DRC, La Generale et des Mines [“Gecamines”], and Sentinelle Global Investments (Pty) Ltd [“Sentinelle”] to mine and treat the high grade copper/cobalt orebody at Ruashi, and the Ruashi and Etoile stockpiles situated in the Katanga Province of the DRC in May 2004. Probable mineral reserves are 24,120,000 at a grade of 3,78% Cu and 0,79% Co. Planned eventual production is 45,000 tonnes of copper and 3,500 tonnes of cobalt per annum. Metorex increased its effective interest in the two-phase Ruashi project to 80% from 67.2% by buying out the private Sentinelle for R60m in cash and the issue of 12.5m shares at R21.35 each in March, 2007. State-owned Gecamines owns the other 20% of Ruashi. The company announced in July, 2007, that it had acquired 38.7% of Copper Resources Corporation (CRC) and a 5% stake in Miniere De Musoshi Et Kinsenda Sarl (MMK), a 75% owned subsidiary of CRC, for £42.85m, about R600m. Metorex said on 18 January, 2008, that it had unconditionally contracted to acquire a further 6,6% of Copper Resources Corporation, lifting its total holding to 45,6% of the firm. CRC holds a 75% interest in MMK which owns the Kinsenda, Musoshi and Lubembe copper deposits as well as various exploration permits in the southern portion of the Katanga Province of the DRC. Metorex is also drilling the Musonoi copper deposit, close to the two deposits the group is mining at Kolwezi.

Copper Resources Corporation (AIM:CRC) has three projects that include the Kinsenda copper restart project; completing a feasibility study at Musoshi, an underground copper mine, and starting exploration at Lubembe, an advanced copper exploration project. It has raised £56.3 million, by placing 45 million new common shares with Glencore International AG at 125 pence per share, which it said was enough to develop its three projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Glencore's stake currently represents 35.7% of the enlarged share capital of Copper Resources, which presently stands at 126,065,064 common shares in issue. On November 5, 2007, Metorex offered 73 of its shares for every 100 Copper Resources' shares with cash alternative, overvaluing the company's stock at £1.49 per share, with its CEO Charles Needham saying this would provide the company's shareholders with an exposure "to Metorex's established projects in the DRC and a diversified mineral portfolio". It was announced on the 20 November, 2007, that CRC will revoke the issue of 45 million shares to Glencore as Metorex prepared to issue documents to minority shareholders and made plans around CRC’s assets in the Congo.
The board of AIM-traded CRC decided the independent directors Sam Jonah and Mitchell Alland –both of whom subsequently resigned their positions – had acted outside their mandate by offering the shares to the Swiss-based commodity trader.
The motivation for the placing of shares with Glencore is not understood. It would have given Glencore a 36% stake in CRC just as Metorex launched its offer to mop up minorities' shares.

First Quantum Minerals Ltd acquired 100% of Adastra. Adastra was a listed international mining company with its principal asset being the Kolwezi Copper-Cobalt Tailings Project in the DRC. Due to the poor recoveries obtained from the conventional concentrating techniques used, valuable amounts of copper and cobalt were discharged into two tailings dams known as Kingamyambo and Musonoi. The two dams contain 112,8 million t of oxide tailings grading a remarkable 1,49 % copper and 0,32 % cobalt. The company is considering the construction of an initial 35,000 tonne per year copper facility and 5,800 tonne per year cobalt facility which would be designed to be expanded to 105,000 tonnes of copper per year and 17,400 tonnes of cobalt per year.

The huge Kingamyambo tailings dam (above) is a smaller resource than the Musonoi tailings dam.
Source: Adastra

First Quantum is also developing the Frontier deposit, near the town of Sakania in the DRC, within 2 km of the Zambian border. The estimated resource is 161 million tonnes grading 1.17% copper (0.5% Cu cut-off) or 1.9 million tonnes of copper.

Ivanhoe Nickel and Platinum Ltd. (Ivanplats), controlled by Robert Friedland of Ivanhoe Mines, has rights to about 20,000 square kilometres and, besides the copper and cobalt at the Kalongwe copper-cobalt project 10 kilometres north of Tenke Fugurume, also plans to develop the Kengere project, near the town of Kolwezi, which holds zinc, lead, silver and germanium. Investment banking sources expect an initial public offering of Ivanplats shares in 2007 with a dual listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange and in London.

TEAL Exploration & Mining Incorporated (Canadian, TSX:TL; JSE:TEL) is exploring the Kalumines Copper-Cobalt Project, a joint venture with La Générale des Carrières et des Mines ("Gécamines"), which comprises approximately 77 square kilometres. The project area hosts four near surface areas of copper mineralization that the Company believes may be exploitable using open-pit mining techniques. Drilling, trenching and pitting were undertaken by previous owners and copper and cobalt mineralization was identified over a strike length in excess of 3 kilometres. The Company has agreed with Gécamines to conduct a drilling program to define the resource and to complete a feasibility study on the project by May 2007. TEAL announced in November, 2007, that its planned mining rate at the Lupoto Copper Project, which forms part of the Kalumines property was achieved in September, 2007. TEAL could also begin producing 12,000 tonnes of copper in early 2008 at the company's 70-percent owned Mwambashi copper project. TEAL Exploration & Mining said in February, 2008, that it had discovered copper and cobalt mineralisation in the Karu East block some 5 km SSE of the Lupoto Copper Project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Some of the drilling highlights include: 21 metres grading 2.57% copper; 39 metres grading 3.25% copper, including 15 metres at 0.46% cobalt; and 16 metres grading 0.33% cobalt, it said.

El Nino Ventures Inc (Canadian, ELNOF.OB, ELN.V) announced in May, 2007, that it had acquired a 70 percent interest in a Joint Venture Agreement with GCP Group Ltd, a private Congolese company. El Nino holds it's initial 70 percent interest in Research Permits No. 5214, 5215, 5216 and 5217. These permits were granted by the Cadastre Miner of the DRC and cover 352 square kilometers in the DRC-Zambian Copperbelt. The permits are located between Lubumbashi and Likasi.

Gecamines will contribute 10 million metric tonnes of copper deposits to a $6bn joint venture with two Chinese companies. he company will also contribute half a million tonnes of cobalt to a partnership that has been agreed with Sinohydro Corporation and China Railway Engineering Corporation. The two Chinese entities will own a 68% stake in the venture. Under the deal deal signed in January, 2008, by China's Exim Bank and the Kinshasa government, Congolese state miner Gecamines, China's Sinohydro Corp and China Railway Engineering Corp will create a joint mining venture with rights to two mining concessions.
Together the Mashamba and Dikuluwe mines contain 10 million tonnes of copper and 2 million tonnes of cobalt, he said.
The Chinese investment would be repaid with revenues from the joint venture, called Sicomines.
Katanga Mining's DRC/China copper/cobalt conundrum (Source: Mineweb)

Diamond

Click HERE for an overview

West African Diamonds/République démocratique du Congo (Kevin Hulsey-Jewelry)

The Congo (DRC) is presumed to be Africa's largest diamond producer, but production figures are not available. Most of the DRC's production is produced by the informal sector. In mid-2004 the Kimberley Process struck the country off its list of certifiable diamond producers accusing it of dealing in blood diamonds which resulted in the DRC ceasing exports of diamonds. It is estimated that roughly a third of the DRC's production is smuggled out of the country every year.

Artisianal mining of placer diamond deposits in the DRC takes place along the Bushimaïe and Lubilash tributaries to the Sankuru River near the town of Mbuji-Maye (formerly Bakwanga) in the Kasaï-Oriental province of souther-central DRC, and along the Tshikapa River in the Kasaï-Occidental province.

Société Minière de Bakwanga (MIBA), which is a joint venture between Belgian company Sibeka (20%) and the DRC government (80%), owns the only functioning mine in the country, Mbuji Mayi. The shareholders of Sibeka were Umicore, 80% and De Beers, 20%. In May 2006 Mwana Africa plc acquired Umicore’s subsidiary, Sibeka. Over the past five years MIBA has produced an average of 6 million carats of diamonds per year. It has mining and exploration titles covering an area in excess of 45,000 km2 where it is discussing joint ventures with major diamond producers.

De Beers signed a confdentiality report with Oryx Natural Resources as part of a due diligence exercise for the possible development of the Sengamines diamond concession in 2004.

BRC Diamond Corporation (Canadian and in which gold junior Banro holds a 27,5% stake) controls 5,426 square kilometres and retains a further 11,100 square kilometres through option agreements on ground that historically has been the largest diamond producing region of the DRC. The geology of the region represents an extension of the Angola Craton, which underlies the diamond fields of Lunda Norte Province, in northeast Angola. The company is involved in early stage exploration of both the kimberlite and alluvial potential of the area. By the end of 2007, BRC proposed merging and acquiring all of the outstanding shares of Diamond Core , the South African diamond exploration company, in exchange for BRC shares. BRC had been awarded a further 58 diamond exploration permits in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the firm said in December, 2007. The Toronto-based company now holds directly, or controls through option agreements, a total of 116 exploration permits, covering an area of 38 140,5 km² in the provinces of East and West Kasai and Bandudu in the south, Equateur and Oriental in the north, and Maniema in the central-east of the DRC.

SouthernEra has secured 56 exclusive diamond exploration permits covering more than 16,000 square km in the diamond-rich Kasaï Provinces. This area is producing up to 20 million carats of diamonds per year. In a joint venture formed in October 2005 with BHP Billiton on 39 of SouthernEra’s 56 permits, exploration has commenced for primary diamond deposits. In May 2006, SouthernEra signed an agreement with Nyumba Ya Akiba SPRL, a local Congolese company, acquiring an immediate 74% undivided interest in eight exploration permits covering 2,744 km2 of diamond prospective ground in the Kabinda area of the Kasai Oriental Province. SouthernEra has also secured alluvial diamond permits within the Tshikapa / Kasai / Luebo alluvial diamond field in the Kasaï-Occidental Province, and also within a second major alluvial diamond field in the Kasaï-Oriental Province. SouthernEra controls a 34 kilometre stretch of Kasai River and 2 kilometres of the Tshikapa River within this diamond producing area of southwestern DRC. SouthernEra owns a 100% interest in four permits covering 80,35 km2 and a 70 percent interest in a further four permits covering 77,73 km2.

BHP Billiton is involved in a joint venture with Gravity Diamonds and early stage exploration.

Gem Diamonds holds various concessions in the Mbelenge, Lubembe, Longatshimo and Tshikapa areas in the Kasai Occidental Province, and the Mbelenge area to the north of this. The Mbelenge project comprises four concessions, each with mining permits, along the Kasai River from the port of Djoku Punda, south for approximately 20km. The Lubembe project comprises 22 concessions on the Tshiumbe and Lubembe Rivers. The area was previously prospected in some detail with small alluvial mines established. Lubembe is considered to have significant kimberlite potential with 17 targets identified in a limited survey in 2005. The Longatshimo project comprises 12 concessions on or around the Longatshimo River, with a combination of mining and reconnaissance permits. The Tshikapa project hosts two concessions on the bank of the Tshikapa River each with mining permits.

African Diamonds plc (AFCDF.PK, also active in Botswana, Guinea, Sierra Leone), the AIM and Botswana-listed diamond explorer, has acquired a 35,42 percent share in Bugeco S.A., a private Belgian company and with it, the right to appoint a director. The total consideration paid was $1,616,420 in cash. The key asset of Bugeco is a joint venture with De Beers on 21 licences in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), covering 807 000 hectares of prospective diamondiferous ground. Initial exploration has discovered several new kimberlites, in an area where alluvial diamonds are already in evidence. Analysis indicates the presence of microdiamonds in several of the newly discovered kimberlites, n what appears to be two new kimberlite clusters. Reconnaissance magnetic and detailed airborne magnetic (DAF) geophysical surveys have been completed over the entire licence area and ground magnetic, gravity and electromagnetic surveys over specific anomalies have resulted in the identification of new drill targets. Extensive ground sampling using helicopter and vehicle access is ongoing. The 2007 work programme will focus on further discovery drilling and delineation. This work will prioritise bulk sampling.

Pangea Diamond Fields plc is exploring the the Yusufu and Ikulu alluvial projects on the Longatshimo River, and intends bulk sampling the properties. A plant site has been identified and an operational team is in the process of being assembled. The required plant has been designed and is currently being manufactured, with operations expected to commence mid 2007. It was reported in January, 2008, that a bulk sampling plant had arrived at Pangea Diamondfield's Longatshimo River project and plant construction was in progress.

Mwana Afica plc bought Australian firm, Gravity Diamonds, which has been exploring rights held by BHP Billiton in the Kasai Crater region, in November 2006, for $34m , and announced on March 16, 2007, a C$69.7 m share offer for SouthernEra which has adjacent properties.

Rockwell Ventures Inc (Canadian, RVINF.OB, RVI.V) has rights over 60 km along the Cuango River where artisanal mining is taking place.

Lindian Resources Ltd is exploring the Tshikapa diamond field, in the West Kasai region of the DRC. The area is about 600 km east-southeast of Kinshasa, the capital of DRC. The Tshikapa Diamond Project consists of four licence areas covering about 800 sq km.

Gold in Congo (Kinshasa)

Gold Home

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Geology

The Moto greenstone belt, north-eastern Congo, which consists of Archaean rocks of the Lower Kibalian System host the important gold mineralization. The Moto greenstone belt is bounded to the north by the Archaean West Nile Gneiss complex and to the south by the (younger) Upper Zaire granitic complex.
The Twangiza-Namoya gold belt, eastern Congo, is located in Proterozoic and Archean age rocks in the northern half of the Great Lakes sub-province.

Moto Gold Mines Ltd (Australian) is exploring the Kilo Moto goldfield in Ituri Province. The project includes the following prospects: Pakaka and Pamao, Gorumbwa, Kibali, Durba – Karagba, Megi – Mengu, Ndala, Kombokolo, Agbarabo - Tete Bakangwe. The resource estimate is an indicated 55,40 million tonnes at 2,9 g/t Au for a total of 5,076 million oz gold and 88,63 million tonnes at 3,8 g/t Au for 10,794 million oz of inferred resources of gold. Moto risks having its mining permits cancelled after Okimo, the state-owned gold mining company, accused the company of failing to meet contracts, reported Reuters. Moto's Congolese unit had 90 days to honor contracts with Okimo, or it may have its mining leases revoked or reviewed, the newswire said on 26 January 2007, citing Okimo CEO Victor Kasongo. In terms of the contracts, Moto had committed to repair mining infrastructure and conduct geological surveys in return for a 60% stake in mineral concessions. A feasibility study, released in December, 2007, evaluated the gold project's Indicated Mineral Resources of 77.8 million tons at 2.8 g/t Au for 7.0 million oz, but did not take into account an additional Inferred Mineral Resource base of 98.9 million tons at 3.8 g/t Au for 12.1 million oz, which it says has a conversion rate of close to 100% within key deposits.
Moto is planning a US$483-million mine, which includes an US$80-million hydroelectric power station, US$78-million for initial mining fleets and an additional US$47-million construction contingency.
It would be a 3.3 million oz opencast gold mine with a life of 8.5 years, and the six-pit mine is expected to produce 400,000 oz of gold a year. Moto Goldmines reported a 47% increase in Indicated Mineral Resources at the Moto Gold Project in February,2008. Global Mineral Resources for the Project, above a 1.0 g/t Au reporting cut-off, are now estimated to be: Indicated Mineral Resources 95.3 million t @ 3.4 g/t for 10.3 million oz Au Inferred Mineral Resources 96.5 Mt @ 3.6 g/t for 11.3 million oz Au.
Country Accuses Canadian Mining Firm of 'Cheating'
The East African (Nairobi)
Banro Corporation (Canadian, AMEX:BAA; TSX:BAA) is exploring the Twangiza-Namoya gold belt in the South Kivu and Maniema Provinces of the DRC. The project includes the following prospects: Twangiza, Lugushwa, Namoya and Kamituga. The current resource estimate is 2,72 million oz of measured and indicated resources, plus inferred resources of 8,11 million oz of gold at 1 g/t Au cut-off. According to sources at the Denver Gold Forum in September, 2007, the TSX and AMEX-listed company has retained Canadian investment bank RBC Capital Markets to run a bidding and due diligence process; apparently with the view of selling the company. The two most advanced projects are Twangiza and Namoya. Prefeasibility studies on both would be completed in the first quarter of 2008 and bankable feasibility studies would be done by the third quarter of 2008.
Twangiza currently has a total resource estimated at 6.24 million oz of gold. Planning at this stage is for a mine producing 300,000 oz/year over a life of about 13 years at an average cost of $275/oz over the life-of-mine. Namoya is a much smaller deposit with a resource of 1.35 million oz at this stage and forecast average costs of $235/oz over the anticipated life-of-mine.

Twangiza exploration site
Source: Miningmx

Gold Fields (South African, NYSE:GFI; JSE:GFIELDS) is doing early stage exploration on the Kisenge Project, Katanga Province in the southern Democratic Republic of the Congo, some 680 kilometres from the main city of Lubumbashi.

Elemental Minerals Ltd is to acquire a 60 per cent interest in the Musefu gold project in the southern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo near the border with Angola. Gold was discovered there in 1920 and mining began by Belgian interests in 1932. Records kept until 1958 show that total production was 80,385 oz but no exploration work has been done at Musefu for more than 50 years. Historic drilling at one prospect shows intersections including 12,5 m at 7,51 g/t gold and 5 m at 16,09 g/t.

Wa Balengela Kasai-Investments Congo (WBK), a Congolese mineral exploration and exploitation company, has filed litigation to validate its Memorandum of Understanding to establish a joint exploration venture with La Quinta Resources Corporation, (LAQ.V),which has been thrown into doubt by claims by Banro Corporation’s Congolese subsidiary. La Quinta announced that WBK has commenced an action in a commercial court in the Democratic Republic of Congo, to clear claims by Banro Congo, that Banro signed an earlier agreement concerning WBK's claimed concessions in Maniema and South Kivu Provinces in south eastern DRC.
The court proceedings seek to block Banro Congo from exploring the concessions as well as compelling the company to pay damages and costs for interference.
The disputed area has 32 exploration licences held by WBK, totalling 7,010 square kilometres, located adjacent and between Banro’s Lugushwa and Namoya properties in the south of the Twangiza-Namoya gold belt, which extend 120 kilometres to the west.
WBK holds extensive mineral leases in the DRC, and has numerous diamond exploration agreements. It has also been instrumental in introducing other companies into the DRC for copper and cobalt exploration. In March, 2007, Banro issued the following statement:
BANRO STATEMENT

The properties within the WBK licence area have a long history of both formal and informal mining. They were extensively mined mainly for alluvial gold by BelgikaOr from the early 1940s to the 1970s after which formal mining and exploration ceased.
At least six previous mining sites can be easily identified, and artisanal mining continues on much of the target areas today.

La Quinta Resources Corporation (LAQ.V) has announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with AMIKI (Association Miniere du Kivu sprl) to lease, or acquire all of the Exploration and Exploitation rights of AMIKI on the Kampene Project in South Kivu Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Kampene project covers 49 square Kilometers and includes an Exploration Licence and a Small Miner's Licence to mine and sell all mineral products from the Licence area including Gold, Silver, Coltan, (Columbite and Tantalite) and Cassiterite. Kampene has a long history of extensive mineral production dating back to the 1940's and the Belgian era, when mineral production for Gold, Cassiterite and Coltan formed the economic basis for the formation of the Town of Kampene, complete with its power plant, airstrip, schools churches and hospital. Since the Belgians left, production of gold has continued, first for the Congolese government during the Mobutu era and subsequently by the Rwandan Army during the second war of Liberation. AMIKI have held these claims since 1981 and reclaimed the property after the United Nations supported 2003 Peace Accord. Following the democratic election of 2006 and subsequent revision of the Congolese Mining Laws AMIKI has now been able to convert the licences to a modern Permis d'exploitation number 235 including a Small Miners Exploitation licence allowing immediate production from the site.
The Kampene Project lies adjacent to a 7,000 square kilometre licence area for gold exploration covering the southern portion of the Twangiza - Namoya Gold Belt, owned by Wa Balengela Kasai-Investments Congo sprl, (WBK) which is the subject of a separate Agreement between LAQ and WBK and is currently in a due diligence process.

Mwana Africa plc has a joint venture agreement (80%) with Office des Mines d’Or de Kilomoto (Okimo) over an exploration property in the north-east of the DRC. The joint venture was signed in June 2005. The 3,000 square kilometres project area is a 100 km long belt running from Kilomines, adjacent to AngloGold Ashanti to the south, the Government’s Kilo Moto holdings to the north and to the east of ground held by Gold Fields. It is also located around the Zani-Kodo gold mine. Zani project started before independence and reached total production of 572,000 tonnes at 6,5 g/t, but was abandoned due to unrest in 1964 during the civil war. Zani’s mineralized zone at the surface is 500m long and up to 30m wide, it consists of silicification in sheared greenstone with gold contained in sulphides. At the time of closure Zani’s sulphide reserve was 352,000 tonnes at 8,15 g/t.

AngloGold Ashanti (South Africa, NYSE:AU; JSE:ANG) is exploring the Mongbwalu project, a 10 by 15 km block, in the northeast. An inferred resource of two-million ounces to three-million oz has been estimated and an airborne geophysical survey to define additional regional drill targets was planned for 2007, in addition to 70 000 m of drilling.

Oil and Natural Gas

Click HERE for an overview

Production from the upstream oil industry, mainly from offshore fields, is an important contributor to the DRC’s economy. Oil production in 2003 was estimated at 22,000 barrels per day. Proved reserves have been estimated at 1.538 billion barrels (January 2002). There is one oil refinery in the country with a capacity of 15,000 barrels per day. At present it is operating at about 50 percent capacity. There are plans to upgrade the refinery to 50,000 barrels per day, but this is dependent on finding foreign investment and a complete resolution to the political instability.
Exploration for oil and gas in the DRC began in the 1960s along the country’s Atlantic Ocean coastline at the estuary of the Congo river, which is located between the prolific offshore production region of northern Angola and its oil-rich enclave of Cabinda. The country became an oil producer in 1976 when its offshore fields came on stream. Its entire crude output is exported because the crude characteristics are incompatible with the configuration of the country’s only refinery.
The Ministry of Mines and Energy regulates the industry, while a new State company, La Congolaise des Hydrocarbures (Cohydro) was formed in 1999 to take responsibility for all activities related to the oil sector, from exploration and production to refining.
The DRC has seven producing offshore gasfields, most of which is flared. Some of the gas is re-injected and a portion is used in gas-lift operations. Proved reserves have been estimated at 104.8 billion cubic metres (January 2002). Two major three-year projects have been initiated in an attempt to increase production levels both onshore and offshore.
Various foreign companies are operating in partnership with the government in the upstream oil sector. The most significant being a consortium operating the offshore concessions which includes Chevron, Teikoku Oil of Japan, and Union Oil of California. The Ministry of Mines and Energy is updating petroleum legislature to supervise and control the awarding of exploration permits and production concessions.

Oil production: 21,090 bbl/day (2004)
Oil exports: 21,090 bbl/day (2006 est.)
Oil proved reserves: 1.538 billion bbl (1 January 2002)

Natural gas proved reserves: 991.1 million cu m (1 January 2005 est.)

Congo Gulf Oil Company (owned by Chevron of the United States (50%), Teikoku Oil Company Ltd of Japan (32.3%), and Unocal Corporation, which merged with Chevron in 2005, (17.7%)] produced approximately 17,000 bbl/d of crude petroleum from seven offshore wells in 2000. Congo Gulf Oil accounted for about 60% of national petroleum production.

Perenco operates six onshore fields, with an output of approximately 20,000 barrels per day. Perenco is also the operator of DRC's offshore concession and terminal - assets it acquired from Chevron in 2004.

Other companies that were operating in Congo (Kinshasa) included Ocelot International Ltd and Japan National Oil Corporation.

Tullow Oil signed a production Sharing Agreement (PSA) in July 2006 to gain a 48.5% operated interest in Blocks I and II in the prospective Albertine Graben. Blocks I and II cover some 6,500 sq km over the onshore and offshore acreage in Congo (DRC) part of the Albertine Graben which extends into neighbouring Uganda. The planned work programme comprises a number of technical studies in preparation for the acquisition of 400 km of 2D seismic data during the first licence period. Tullow has interests (50-100%) in all three blocks comprising the Ugandan part of the graben where recent exploration has recently proven the existence of a working hydrocarbon system. Five oil discoveries in the Albertine Basin in Uganda have significantly enhanced the prospectivity of the region. As a result an aggressive exploration and appraisal programme is planned for Uganda and Congo (DRC).

Source: Tullow Oil

Heritage Oil Corporation signed a Production Sharing Agreement in the DRC in July 2006 for a 39.5% interest in Blocks I and II in the prospective Albert Basin. Blocks I and II cover over 6,000 km2 over the onshore and offshore acreage in the DRC part of the Albert Basin that extends into neighbouring Uganda.

Tin

Kivu Resources Limited is active in the eastern DRC and Rwanda. Historically, the area was an important tin and tantalum producer. Kivu Resources, through its wholly owned local companies (Metal Processing Association SARL in Rwanda, Central African Resources SPRL and Mining and Processing Congo SPRL in the DRC) will hold a number of assets in the DRC and Rwanda including a management agreement with SAKIMA, a state owned company, in the DRC to manage tin and tantalum production from small scale miners; an option to acquire an 80% shareholding in SAKIMA's mining permits; a joint venture with the government of Rwanda on the Gatumba mining permits; as well as a number of prospecting permits in the region. A consortium consisting of EDIN Mining Limited, a mining investment company domiciled in the British Virgin Islands, Ireland based Coronation Capital Limited and Metmar Limited will acquire a 50% stake in Kivu Resources. The consortium has an option to increase its shareholding in Kivu Resources to 70%.

Uranium

History

Historically the DRC has been a significant producer of uranium. The Shinkolobwe Mine in the Katanga Province is known for producing ore rich in uranium. Deposits in the area are understood to have been discovered in 1915 and extraction began in the 1920's. Commercial production ceased in 1960.
The Shinkolobwe mine is a vein type deposit, with most of the deposits having grades between 250 and 8,500 ppm. Uranium extracted from Shinkolobwe was used to develop the atom bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima during the Second World War.

UraMin was reportedly interested in buying the Shinkolobwe uranium mine.

Brinkley Mining plc has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo ("DRC") which will provide the company's 70% owned subsidiary, Brinkley Africa Ltd, with priority access to the DRC’s uranium resources. The Congo government subsequently said it would block a joint venture between Brinkley Mining and the Atomic Energy Authority (CGEA) after finding terms of a memorandum of understanding between the parties to be 'questionable'.

Zinc

Click HERE for an overview

Gécamines (La Générale des Carrières et des Mines), the Congolese state-owned mining company, owns the Kipushi zinc mine. At the height of production, in the late 1980s, Kipushi produced 143,000 tonnes of zinc and 43,000 tonnes of copper. Mining at Kipushi was stopped in 1993 when the government of Mobutu Sese Seko ran out of funds. The mine has 17 million tonnes of ore, with 2,83 million tonnes of zinc and nearly 400,000 tonnes of copper. Gecamines has invited bids to restart the mine despite South African miner Exxaro Resources, formerly Kumba Resources, and Canada’s First Quantum Minerals claim to rights to the project.
United Resources won the tender to develop the deposit and will invest up to $400m in the project, Gecamines MD Paul Fortin, announced in February,2007. United Resources, a group of financial companies, won the tender because it offered Gecamines a 37% stake in the project. South Africa's Exxaro Resources and First Quantum Minerals have taken the matter to court in Belgium.
A Belgian court ruled on 23 March, 2007, that Congolese mining company Gecamines suspend its tender for investors to develop the Kiphusi zinc deposit, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, paving the way for Exxaro Resources and First Quantum to file lawsuits, that could run into millions of dollars, against the State-owned firm. Exxaro and First Quantum could sue Gecamines on the merits of the case and request the enforcement of the agreements.

ZNet | Africa

Mining in the Ituri Province of the Congo
A Contemporary Profile
by David Barouski; May 14, 2007

Most people who became aware of the 2nd Congo War (1998 to 2003 ) did so because of the violence unleased in the (then) Ituri District, which was created in June of 1999 by General James Kazini of the Ugandan People’s Defense Force (UPDF). After the Lusaka Accords were signed and the UPDF officially pulled out of the country, the neighboring countries of Uganda and Rwanda aggravated and exploited ethnic differences to create numerous militias that went to war over the vast gold tracts in Ituri. The illegal sale of this gold in neighboring countries served to fund the war by purchasing arms, military uniforms, and other supplies. Incomprehensable acts of violence and rape occurred, and child soldiers were the norm. Today, with the aid of U.N. forces, Ituri has found a relative peace.

Ituri is unique compared to the Kivu provinces to the south because throughout the 1st Congo War (1996 to 19997) to the present day, war over minerals has always been about gold and timber. The rest of Northeastern Congo went through several distinct phases where one particular commodity was more sought after than another. When the 2nd Congo War broke out, diamonds were the most coveted mineral until mid-2000. In 2000, the coltan (columbium-tantalite) boom occurred due to increased military-industrial spending, and the arrival of popular electronics equipment (the cell phone boom, Sony Playstation, etc.), which drastically increased market demand for coltan. What started off in 1999 as a $20 (U.S.) per pound commodity rose to $380 (U.S.) per pound by December of 2000. With 80% of the world’s coltan reserves, fierce fighting for the mining sites claimed countless victims.(1) The world market reserves quickly became so saturated with smuggled coltan that the price plummeted back down by the end of 2001. The smugglers in the Kivus then focused on the highest grade ores that were found primarily in Walikale Territory.

After the signing of the Sun City Final Act that officially ended the 2nd Congo War in 2003, world demand for tin rose sharply due to new environmental laws in the European Union (E.U.) and Japan. Cassiterite, a mineral that is smelted into tin oxide, became the most desirable commodity in the Congo along with niobium, a chemically-unique form of columbium used in heat-resistant alloys that are utilized in a variety of applications. The Lueshe mine in Congo holds the only large reservoir of niobium in the world. To this day, niobium and cassiterite remain the most coveted mineral to smuggle in the Kivus for the remaining dissidents, particularly by Rwandan-backed General Nkundabatware and his men in North Kivu Province.

Throughout the wars and for years before that, multinational corporations sought to exploit the same gold mining areas in Ituri that the militias did. The mines are primarily concentrated around the towns of Mongbwalu, Watsa, Durba, Kilo, and Moto in very remote areas. Today, with some likeness of peace, the fight for control of the concessions will begin anew. The Deputy Minister of Mines, Victor Kasongo, has begun a review of the mining contracts for the newly elected Congolese Government and he said 50% of the contracts may be voided.(2) All official negotiations for mining rights have ended until all the contracts have been reviewed. This could prove to be troublesome for both the Congolese Government and the mining companies.

The mining concession that includes the Watsa/Durba area (OKIMO Concession #38) was obtained by the Canadian gold-mining firm Barrick Gold from the Office of Kilo-Moto (OKIMO) on 3rd August, 1996 before the fall of President Joseph Mobutu Sese Seko. OKIMO, the state-owned gold mining company, became a joint partner in Barrick’s project. Barrick initially became interested in the concession after the U.S.-based consulting firm Davy McKee Corporation completed a feasibility study of the area in 1991. Between October and December of 1996, while the war was raging in the area southwest of the concession, Barrick completed several of their own exploratory drills, but the results were less promising than the reports OKIMO gave the company. In 1996, Barrick also made a side deal with General Kpama Baramoto, head of President Mobutu’s Guarde Civile. General Baramoto allowed Barrick to mine gold around his base in Bunia in exchange for funds to rebuild Bunia’s airport.(3)

Barrick restructured their mining contract after the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire (AFDL-CZ) headed by Laurent Kabila took power in 1997, but they retained the mining rights to Concession #38. They reportedly began these negotiations before L. Kabila reached the capital city of Kinshasa.(4 ) Barrick was allowed to keep the contract President Mobutu Sese Seko signed after Laurent Kabila took power because L. Kabila’s Finance Minister Mawampanga Mwana Nanga (who later became Minister of Agriculture) insisted he honor “good faith” contracts between President Mobutu and certain foreign mining firms. This was an unusual move because Minister Nanga was known to be a staunch critic of foreign mining firms. He had already canceled the mining contracts of Belgium’s Union Minère (now Umicore) and DeBeers/Anglo-American despite strong protests from Nelson Mandela. However, Minister Nanga apparently had a soft spot for American-connected firms, perhaps because he graduated from Pennsylvania State University and taught at Kentucky University.(5)

Minister Nanga urged AFDL-CZ’s Mining Minister Kambale Kabila Mututulo to sign off a one billion dollar (U.S.) deal to Jean-Raymond Boulle’s Hope, Arkansas-based (at the time) American Mineral Fields Incorporated (AMF) (now Adastra), one of Barrick’s business partners. The deal was for two huge mining concessions in Kipushi and Kolwezi, located in the Katanga Province (then Shaba Province). Mr. Boulle desperately needed access to the minerals because he was bidding to acquire the contract to build a new space station to replace Mir, a $60 billion dollar (U.S.) endeavor. His acquisition of the Mir contract is remarkable when considering AMF was only incorporated in 1995.(6)

A major competitor of Anglo-American with several former Anglo-American/DeBeers directors on its executive team, AMF already had the deal lined up in April 1997 after Mr. Boulle (a Briton born in Mauritius) visited L. Kabila in Goma after the AFDL-CZ/RPA captured Lubumbashi (Katanga Province) and put Katangan Governor Kyungu ku Mwanza under house arrest.(7) Mr. Boulle reportedly fronted $50 million dollars (U.S.) to L. Kabila for the deal and he likely used some of it to buy arms and equipment.(8) However, AMF did eventually partner with Anglo-American.

American Diamond Buyers, another company owned by Mr. Boulle and Joseph Martin (and a competitor of DeBeers), reportedly paid L. Kabila $25,000 (U.S.) to buy a diamond mining license from the AFDL-CZ.(9) When the company opened for business in Kisangani before the 1st Congo War was even over (but after the ADFL-CZ controlled the town), Zairians literally broke the door down to sell their diamonds. Several people could even be seen around town wearing tee-shirts given out for free by the company.(10)

Mr. Boulle (a former Anglo-American executive who also acted as an advisor to Guinea’s Mining Minister) also allowed L. Kabila and Minister Nanga to use his personal corporate Lear jet for transportation around the country. In return, besides the mining contracts, L. Kabila allowed Mr. Boulle to set up a trading post in Mbuji-Mayi immediately after the AFDL-CZ captured the city during the same month Lubumbashi fell. He also greatly reduced the price of AMF’s annual mining license fees.(11) Mr. Boulle and two other connections to AMF at the time, Chairman Michael McMurrough and business associate Jackson Stephens, were reported to be friends of Bill Clinton since his days as Arkansas’ governor.(12)

One week before the AFDL-CZ took Kinshasa, AMF chartered a group of investors to meet L. Kabila. Mr. Boulle hoped to attract investors for his new mining projects. Representatives from CIBC Wood Gundy, Bunting Warburg (a branch of London's SBC Warburg), First Bank of Boston, Citibank, Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, and Goldman Sachs attended along with several reporters, Robert Briscotti (investment banker), Robin Sanders (Director of African Affairs for the NSC), and Cynthia McKinney (former U.S. Congresswoman for the State of Georgia).(13) The meeting went over well. Washington D.C. based New Millenium Investment Limited signed a joint venture deal with the AFDL-CZ to run Goma’s Development Bank. Bethesda, Maryland-based Comsat signed on to sell satellite phones in Goma.(14)

Almost immediately after AMF got its mining contract with the AFDL-CZ, DeBeers sent the head of its Kinshasa branch (Nicholas Davenport) and an Anglo-American director to meet with L. Kabila and Minister Mawampanga in Goma to plead for a contract. Under the Mobutu regime, DeBeers held a 4% stake in MIBA while its Central Selling Organization had rights to the entire Zairian state production. DeBeers also had five comptoirs in Zaire that bought from artisian miners.(15)

DeBeers was also deeply entrenched in Zaire through Anglo-American Corporation (which is nearly 50% owned by DeBeers), one of its business partners. The Canadian company Banro Corporation merged with Belgium-based Mines D'or Du Zaire (MDDZ) in September 1996 shortly before President Mobutu left Zaire in exile. A ~13% shareholder in Banro was U.K.-based Cluff Mining. The majority shareholder in Cluff Mining was Anglo-American.(16) Through the MDDZ merger, Banro was able to obtain a 93% interest in SAKIMA.(17 )Today, Banro is actively mining gold in Twangiza, Kamituga, Lugushwa, and Namoya in South Kivu.

Another company who wanted in on the action was First Quantum Minerals. Their Bwana Mkubwa branch fronted money to Laurent Kabila when he was with the AFDL-CZ and had not yet reached Kinshasa. They received mining authorizations in return.(18)

First Quantum recently tried to buy out Adastra (formerly AMF) and still holds lucrative concessions in the Congo. On their Board of Directors sits Chairman Phillip Pascall (Rio Tinto), Rupert Pennant-Rea (Chairman of Henderson Group plc; Director of British American Tobacco plc, Sherrit International Corporation, Gold Fields Limited, and Rio Narcea; former editor for The Economist and the former Deputy Governor of the Bank of England), and Andrew Adams (AngloGold).

Barrick created a joint-venture with Anglo-American in March 1998 to explore OKIMO Concession #38 in preparation for active mining. In 1998, Anglo-American created its AngloGold Limited subsidiary and in May 1998, the firm purchased nearly half of Barrick’s stakes in the Congo.(19) Exploration occurred from February to August 1998 but their staff was forced to flee in August due to the outbreak of the 2nd Congo War. AngloGold Limited assumed operational control of Concession # 38 on 5 August, 1998, but they were never able to actively mine the concession because of the war. OKIMO repossessed the land after they fled.(20) After OKIMO reclaimed the concession, Barrick made a side deal with RCD Mining Minister Alex Thambwe in 1999 for the rights to mine the land, but Barrick was unable to mine on the land because of the ongoing war on the mining concessions in Ituri.(21)

After the 2nd Congo War began, the UPDF and the Rally for Congolese Democracy-Liberation Movement (RCD-ML) occupied Watsa until they withdrew as a provision of the Lusaka Accords in 1999. Militias in Ituri multiplied drastically in 2000 to seize control of the power void left behind when the UPDF withdrew. Barrick Gold sub-contracted its concession to Uganda’s Caleb International, owned by General Salim Saleh, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s half-brother.(22) It appears the intent was to hold and protect the concession for Barrick until the fighting stopped. Meanwhile, the Hema Union for Congolese Patriots (UPC), RCD-ML, Jean-Pierre Bemba’s Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC), the Lendu Nationalist and Integrationist Front (FNI), People’s Armed Forces of Congo (FAPC), and various other factions fought over Watsa and Durba until most of them either disarmed or were driven out by MONUC/FARDC offensives last year. The MLC moved into the area until mid-2006, when MONUC gained full control over Watsa.(23)

Barrick’s business practices have not gone completely unnoticed. In December 2002, Barrick Gold was sued in an anti-trust case for literally manipulating the price of gold on the world market. Banking giant J.P. Morgan (prior to their merger with Chase Manhattan) was an investor in a company called Argo Partnership, who became a significant shareholder in TrizecHahn. Barrick bought TrizecHahn , making J.P. Morgan a shareholder in Barrick Gold by virtue of the buyout. J.P. Morgan reportedly loaned Barrick gold reserves from a central bank to short-sell on the market, increasing the supply and driving the price down. The money from the gold sales was invested in money market instruments at J.P. Morgan for a higher return than the gold borrowing rate, thus creating a profit. The short sales were considered off-sheet assets, so the purchase of gold off the market was not reflected as a loss in their balance sheet.(24)

Barrick would then mine the gold needed to replace the borrowed stores at the central bank, but a clause in the J.P. Morgan gold lending deal gave Barrick an infinite number of years to pay back the central bank. This meant Barrick could buy up the gold supplies to drive the price up, or they could dump their borrowed stores and drop the price generating a profit for both Barrick and J.P. Morgan. Recall that during 1998, as Barrick was evicted from the Congo, the price of gold was falling considerably. It has been rising steadily since 2001. (Ibid)

Currently, Barrick has terminated all non-project hedge contracts. They have allotted $23 million dollars (U.S.) for exploratory efforts in Africa for the 2007 fiscal year. Another $26 million dollars (U.S.) is delegated to explore the Sedibelo PGM deposit on the Bushveld Complex in South Africa. They completed a feasibility study on the Buzwagi gold project in Tanzania, where Barrick is also opening a joint venture project with Xstrata Nickel in Kabanga. Barrick is also eager to develop their Reko Diq joint venture in the Baluchistan Province of Pakistan.(25) They are also selling all their shares in NovaGold.

The Baluchistan Province is the largest province in Pakistan. It borders the Helmand Province of Afganistan, an opium crop district and Taliban (meaning “students” in Arabic) stronghold. The Baluchistan Province has been used as a rear base for training and staging their armed forces. The Taliban are a Nationalist Sunni faction comprised of Pashtuns, who form a very sizable population in Baluchistan Province. The area is awash in locally ruled fiefdoms by tribal chiefs and mullahs (Islamic clergymen). In Pakistan, they are usually from the Wahhabi or Salafi sect.

The individuals behind Barrick Gold are so well-connected they are worth noting in detail:

Howard Beck: Corporate Director of Barrick Gold. Formerly involved with BAE, and Citibank Canada. BAE bought out United Defense Industries (a company formerly owned by The Carlyle Group) in 2005. Just recently, BAE was the subject of a corruption probe in Great Britain, but Prime Minister Tony Blair and Attorney General Lord Peter Goldsmith ordered the investigation suspended. Some British officials believe the firm lobbied Lord Goldsmith to drop the investigation.(26) BAE is a 20% owner of Airbus.(27)

Gustavos Cisneros: Board Member and International Advisory Board Member of Barrick Gold. He is the Chief Executive Officer of Cisneros Group, which includes television and radio networks, broadcasting and telecommunications operations, programming and production companies for television and radio, supermarkets, beverage production, fast food outlets, video franchises, and music production. He essentially owns the Latin-American media market.

Mr. Cisneros is Venuzeuelan and a stauch opponent of Venezuela’s current Populist President Hugo Chavez. Mr Cisneros is a founding (and current) member of the International Advisory Board of the Council on Foreign Relations and a former Director of the International Advisory Committee of Chase Manhattan Bank. He is director of the Chairman's Council of the Americas Society and a member of the International Advisory Council of the United States Information Agency, the Board of Overseers of the International Center for Economic Growth, the International Advisory Board of Power Corporation of Canada, the International Advisory Board of Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, the International Advisory Board of AEA Investors Incorporated, and is a board member of Panamerican Beverages Incorporated (a Coca-Cola bottling company).

In addition, he is a Trustee of Rockefeller University in New York and sits on the Board of Georgetown University. He also sits on the International Advisory Board of Columbia University, the Advisory Committee for the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University, and the Rockefeller University Fund. Mr. Cisneros acts as the Commissioner of the Global Information Infrastructure Commission and is a member of the Council for Latin American Studies at John Hopkins University. In addition, Mr. Cisneros is a Governor of the World Economic Forum.(28)

Donald Carty: A Corporate Director of Barrick Gold, Dell, Sears and Roebuck. He is also the Chairman of Virgin America, Porter Airlines, and is the former Chief Executive Officer of American Airlines.

Marshall Cohen: Lawyer for Cassel’s Brock & Blackwell, and former Canadian Deputy Minister of several areas including Finance, Industry, Trade & Commerce, Energy, and Mines & Resources. He is a Corporate Director of Barrick Gold, American-International Group, TD Ameritrade, Premcor Incorporated, Metaldyne Corporation, Toronto-Dominion Bank, and Lafarge Corporation. He is a member of the International Advisory Committee for The Blackstone Group. Formerly, he was the International Councillor for CSIS, and a former member of the Executive Committee of The British-North American Committee and The Trilateral Commission. He was also the Chairman of the International Trade Advisory Committee for the Government of Canada.

John Crow: Corporate Director of Barrick Gold. He is the former Governor of the Bank of Canada (1987 to 1994); Chairperson of the Central Bank Governors of the Group of Ten countries, and one-time head of the North American Division of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Brian Mulroney: Corporate Director and Chairman of the International Advisory Board of Barrick Gold and most notably, the former Prime Minister of Canada (1984 to 1993). He is a Director of Archer Daniels Midland Company, the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, and the Cendant Corporation. He is Chairman of Trizec Properties Incorporated, America Online-Latin America Incorporated, and Quebecor Incorporated. He sits on the International Advisory Board of the China International Trust and Investment Corporation, JPMorgan Chase, Independent News and Media, Power Corporation, Bombardier Incorporated, Aerospace Group - North America, and General Enterprise Management Services Limited. In addition, he is an honorary trustee of the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Senior Partner in the Ogilvy Renault law firm.

Anthony Munk: Peter Munk’s son. He is a Director of Barrick Gold and Onex.

Peter Munk: Founder, Director; member of the International Advisory Board; and former Chief Executive Officer of Barrick Gold and the Trizec Corporation. Mr. Munk also founded Clairtone Sound Corporation. In addition, he is a member of the World Gold Council and the 1001 Club. Mr. Munk is a close friend of infamous Saudi Arabian arms dealer Adnan Khoshoggi, who was involved in financing and setting up arms deals to Iran during the Iran-Contra scandal.(29) Mr. Khoshoggi helped Mr. Munk launch Barrick Gold in 1983, but later sold his shares to Mr. Munk just before details of his involvement in Iran-Contra broke in 1985.

Lord Charles Powell of Baywater: Lord Powell is a cross-bench member of Britain’s Upper House of Parliament and the House of Lords, where he sits on the Economic Affairs Committee. He served as the Private Secretary and Advisor on Foreign Affairs and Defense to former Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and John Major. Lord Powell is currently an Advisor to the Chairmen of BAE and Eastern Star Publications. He is a principal at New Bridge Strategies, a business advisory firm currently working in Iraq. He holds many directorships, including: British Mediterranean Airways, Caterpillar Incorporated, Financière Agache, Moet-Hennessy Louis Vuitton, Sagitta Asset Management (Chairman), Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, Jardine Matheson & Company Group, Textron Corporation, Yell Group, Limited Schindler Holdings, Switzerland, and Northern Trust Global Services.

He also serves on the Advisory Board of Barrick Gold, Diligence (a PMC), Hicks Muse. Delta HPC (a former business partner of Lockheed Martin), GEMS Private Equity Fund, Rolls-Royce European Strategy Board, Textron International, Wingate Capital, Magna Corporation, the European Advisory Group GMBH, Thales U.K., and Alfa Capital. Lord Powell is Chairman of the Said Business School Foundation’s (Oxford University) Board of Trustees. He is also active with several non-corporate groups including trustee postitions at the Aspen Institute (USA), British Museum, and the Karim Rida Said Foundation. He is a Director of the Atlantic Partnership, the Singapore Millennium Foundation, and the U.K.-China Forum. He is also President of the China-Britain Business Council and a member of the Council of the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

William Cohen: Member of Barrick Gold and Intel Corporation’s International Advisory Boards. Intel was a major consumer of tantalum in the early 2000s during the computer industry boom. He is currently the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Cohen Group, an international business consulting firm. He is currently a Director at Viacom and AIG. Mr. Cohen is also CNN’s World Affairs Contributor. He was the U.S. Secretary of Defense (1997 to 2001) during the beginning of the 2nd Congo War and NATO’s bombing of Kosovo.

Prior to working for the DOD, he was a U.S. Senator for the state of Maine (1979 to 1997) and served on the Select Committee on Intelligence (1983 to 1991, 1995 to 1997), the Governmental Affairs Committee ), Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs in George H.W. Bush’s administration) and the Armed Services Committee (1979 to 1997). In addition, he served on the Iran-Contra investigative committee in 1987. Before he was elected Senator, he was a House Representative for Maine’s 2nd District ). While in Congress, he served on the House Judiciary Committee that investigated the Watergate scandal. He served on the Board of Directors of the Council on Foreign Relations ) on its Middle East Study Group and currently works for several think-tanks and committees including the CSIS (Counselor and Trustee) , the School for Advanced International Studies, the William S. Cohen Center for International Policy and Commerce at the University of Maine in Orono (Chairman), and the Brookings Institution. He established and led U.S. delegations to the American-Arab Dialogue in Cairo and is the Chairman Emeritus of the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council. Mr. Cohen is also a former trustee of the Africa Foundation. In May 1992, he got Rwandan opposition parties to meet with RPF officials in Brussels.(30)

Paul G. Desmarais Senior: Member of the International Advisory Board of Barrick Gold and Chase Manhattan Bank N.A. He is Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Power Corporation, and honorary President of the Canada-China Business Council. He is a former Director of TotalElfFina; former member of the Trilateral Commission; current member of the Privy Council, and a Companion of the Order of Canada. He is on the Advisory Board of the Carlyle Group and CSIS. Mr. Desmarais is a personal friend of the Bush family (Former U.S. President George Herbert Walker Bush is the former Chairman of Barrick Gold’s International Advisory Board [1995 to 1999] and was a personal golfing partner of President Mobutu (31) and Brian Mulroney.(32)

Vernon Jordan Junior: He was Chairman of Bill Clinton’s presidential transition team and one of his top political advisors as well. He is currently a Senior Counselor practicing general, corporate, legislative and international law with the firm Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer, & Feld. In addition, he is a member of the Bilderberger Group, the Iraq Study Group, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Trilateral Commission. He sits on the Board of Directors for American Express, Dow Jones & Company, Lazard Freres and Company, J.C. Penney Company, Xerox Corporation, Ashbury Automotive Group, and the LBJ Foundation. He is also a member of the International Advisory Boards of Barrick Gold and Daimler-Chrysler. Mr. Jordan serves on the Board of Governors for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies; a Senior Managing Director with Lazard Freres & Company; and a Trustee of Howard University. He is a former Director for Revlon, Sara Lee, Corning, and Nabisco.

He has been involved with several African-American civil rights, equality, and empowerment groups. He served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Urban League, Incorporated; Executive Director of the United Negro College Fund; Director of the Voter Education Project of the Southern Regional Council; attorney-consultant at the U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity; Assistant to the Executive Director of the Southern Regional Council; and Georgia Field Director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. He also received numerous presidential appointments including a spot on the Secretary of State's Advisory Committee on South Africa.

Karl Otto Pöhl: Member of the International Advisory Board of Barrick Gold, the Carlyle Group, former Chairman of the German Bundesbank (Central Bank) from 1980 to 1991, and former German Governor of the IMF. He served in Germany’s Economics and Finance Ministries. He is currently a partner in Sal. Oppenheim Junior & Cie investment bank; member of the Bilderberger Group; Director of GAMCO Investors Incorporated and Gabelli Funds LLC; and Senior Advisor to the Ahli United Bank.

Nathaniel Rothschild: International Advisory Board member of Barrick Gold and Co-chairman of Atticus Capital. He is a Director of RIT Capital Partners PLC, Trigranit (Chairman), The Rothschild Foundation, JNR Limited (Chairman), and a member of the Belfer Center's International Council at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. In addition, Mr. Rothschild is on the International Advisory Council of the Brookings Institute. Mr. Rothschild is the only son of Jacob Rothschild and belongs to the well-known Rothschild family of bankers.

Andrew Young: Member of the International Advisory Board of Barrick Gold, Argus Newspapers, and Delta Airlines. He was a close personal friend of Dr. Martin Luther King Junior, a prominent African-American civil rights activist in the U.S. Mr. Young is a former Ambassador to the U.N. (1977 to 1979) under President Jimmy Carter and a Georgian Congressman from 1973 to 1977. He served two terms as Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia where he was Co-Chair of the Atlanta Committee for the Centennial Olympic Games in 1996. He was appointed by Bill Clinton to chair the Southern Africa Enterprise Development Fund. Mr. Young is the former Chairman of Working Families for Wal-Mart and the Southern Africa Development Fund. He was also a Director of the Drum Major Institute and a consultant for Nike. In addition, Mr. Young is the former President of the National Council of Churches (2000 to 2001) and a former member of the National Security Study Group.

He is the current Co-Chair and Co-Founder of GoodWorks International (GoodWorks is a member of the CCA; Associate of the African-American Institute; affiliate of the Council of Foreign Relations, and Senior Advisor of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs. Client corporations of GoodWorks include Barrick Gold, ChevronTexaco, Monsanto, Nike, and Coca-Cola.) and a founder of the CCA. He teaches public affairs as a professor of policy studies at Georgia State University's Andrew Young School of Policy Studies. Mr. Young is a Director of Argus, Host Marriott Corporation, Archer Daniels Midland, Cox Communications, Atlanta Market Center, the Atlanta Falcons, and Thomas Nelson Publishing. He is currently a member of the Bretton Woods Committee, the Council of Foreign Relations, and is an active Freemason. Mr. Young is also currently promoting international investment in Rwanda and is working on creating a convention of international investors in Kigali that will be the largest African business summit to date. It is currently scheduled for 2010.

In addition to George Herbert Walker Bush, Barrick Gold has several other former directors with major credentials:
Howard Baker Junior: Tennessee’s Republican Senator from 1967 to 1985, including two terms each as Senate Majority and Senate Minority Leader. He then served as President Ronald Regan’s Chief of Staff in 1987 to 1988 . After parting ways with President Reagan, he joined Donelson, Bearman & Caldwell (1989 to 2001), a lobbying firm for hire that represented Barrick Gold. In 2001, he was called to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to Japan. In 2005, he stepped down from his post and reunited with Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz as a full partner. He also joined the Advisory Board of Citigroup. Mr. Baker also runs the University of Tennessee-Knoxville Center for Public Policy named in his honor.
Edward Ney: This former director of Barrick was George Herbert Walker Bush’s Ambassador to Canada (1989 to 1992); a reward for running Bush’s presidential ad campaign in 1988. Mr. Ney took charge of Young and Rubicam (acquired by WPP Group in 2000), a public relations agency-for-hire in 1970 and he built it into the largest firm of its kind. Mr. Ney was named Chairman of the Advisory Board at Burson-Marsteller, a subsidiary of Young and Rubicam. Burston-Marsteller is also a public relations firm-for-hire who was hired to cover up Shell’s nefarious business policies in Nigeria. They were also hired by General Jorge Videla’s violent regime in Argentina, and the Government of Indonesia during the time they were enacting their murderous policies during their occupation of East Timor. Burson-Marsteller also worked for Monsanto during their Bovine Growth Hormone scandal; lobbied for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and tobacco companies; covered for Union Carbide after the Bhopal disaster, and worked to improve Exxon’s image after the Valdez spill in Alaska.(33)
John Trevor Eyton: Mr. Eyton was a Canadian Senator first appointed in 1990 by (then) Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. He is a Director of Brazoil, Coca Cola, IQ Ludorum, Nayarit Gold, Owen Media Partners, General Motors Canada, IMAX, Partners for Youth, Nestle Canada, Noranda Incorporated, the International Chamber of Commerce (Paris), Excor-Zerust Canada, and Brookfield Asset Management. Mr. Eyton is Chairman of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, Excor-Zerust Canada, Ivernia, Multi-Games Incorporated, Richview Resources, and Silver Bear Resources. He is Governor of the Canadian Olympic Foundation, Junior Achievement Canada, and the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame. Previously, he served as a Senior Partner at the law firm of Tory Tory Deslauriers & Binnington and as Chairman of EdperBrascan (now Brookfield Asset Management). He is also a member of the Trilateral Commission.
Richard Helms: Director of the CIA from 1966 to 1973 under President Richard Nixon and Deputy Director of the CIA under John McCone. Prior to this, he worked in the Office of Strategic Services, the parent department of the CIA. During President Nixon’s term, he was the Ambassador to Iran. He was involved with Augusto Pinochet’s coup of Chilean President Salvador Allende in 1973. He also served on the board of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, which was embroiled in laundering money from international arms dealers and terrorists. He was a Director of the Carlyle Group, a consultant for Bechtel, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Sources in Aru on the Congo-Uganda border stated “white executives” from Barrick Gold fly in and inspect Watsa every few months, but the company refuses to resume operations until fighting stops in the area. With MONUC in full control of Watsa, the fighting has ceased. MONUC’s logistics branch has established regular flights there. Barrick can now try and repossess their mining license for the concession. The infrastructure in Watsa, Doko, and Durba has been restored. Durba has a working grinder and Nzoro has an active hydro-electric power source. The Kenyan construction firm Civicon began work on a 108 kilometer road leading from the Vura border post to Watsa and should be finished in nine months time barring the return of armed warfare in the area. The Australian/Canadian mining firm Moto Goldmines Limited provided some of the equipment for the job as per a contractual agreement with the Congolese Government.(34)

Barrick Gold is a former business partner of the previously mentioned firm American Mineral Fields Incorporated (now named Adastra Minerals), who still owns their extensive concessions in Katanga Province. Barrick was also partnered with the infamous and now defunct mining firm Bre-X Minerals Limited.(35)

One of Barrick’s current business partners is South Africa-based Gold Fields. Gold Fields purchased Barrick’s stake in South Deep, a mine located west of Johannesburg they acquired when Placer Dome was purchased. As part of the deal, Barrick was given over $300 million dollars (U.S.) worth of shares in Gold Fields.(36) Notables associated with Gold Fields include Chief Executive Officer Ian Cockerill (former Executive Officer for Business Development and African International Operations for AngloGold Ashanti Limited), Director John Hopwood (former Director and head of the Mergers and Acquisitions Division of Ernst & Young’s Corporate Finance; former Executive Director of Gold Fields of South Africa Limited), Director Patrick Ryan (former Executive Vice President of Mining Operations, Development and Exploration at Phelps Dodge), Tokyo Sexwale (Chairman of Mvelaphanda Resources Limited), Rupert Pennant-Rea (Chairman of Henderson Group plc; Director of British American Tobacco plc, Sherrit International Corporation, First Quantum Minerals, and Rio Narcea; former editor for The Economist and the former Deputy Governor of the Bank of England)

Barrick also works with Australia-based Emperor Gold, who is a minority stakeholder in Barrick’s Porgera mine project in Papau New Guinea. Emperor’s Non-Executive Director Robert J. McDonald was a Managing Director of NM Rothschild & Sons (Australia) Limited and also held numerous positions with Rio Tinto, who also mines in Papau New Guinea. Non-Executive Chairman Geoffrey Campbell used to manage Merrill Lynch’s Investment Managers’ Gold and General Fund, one of the largest investment funds of its kind in the world.

Emperor is a subsidiary of DRDGold Limited, based in South Africa. Mr. Campell acts as its Non-Executive Chairman as well. Director James Turk founded GoldMoney Network Limited, a digital gold transaction system. He also worked with Chase Manhattan Bank before managing the Commodity Department of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. Alternate Director Kobus Dissel hails from AngloGold.

Another partner of Barrick Gold was Ashanti Goldfields Limited, a company later purchased by Anglo-American Corporation and renamed AngloGold-Ashanti Limited. AngloGold-Ashanti is actively mining on Concession #40 in and around Mongbwalu, where local Anglo officials stand accused of illegally paying off the FNI in 2004 to mine the area in safety. They also reportedly allowed the FNI and its President Floribert Njabu to use company vehicles, jets (chartered by Kilwa Air, who also chartered for MotoGoldmines Limited), lawyers, and housing. Jean-Pierre Bemba was reportedly the man who suggested AngloGold work with the FNI in order to start mining in 2004. William Swing was supportive of AngloGold-Ashanti’s exploration plans in FNI territory. At the time, MONUC did not have a presence in Mongbwalu, only Bunia. AngloGold-Ashanti employees (at the time) who had direct contact with the FNI were Ashley Lassen (Head of AngloGold-Ashanti’s Uganda branch), Howard Fall (Project Manager in Mongbwalu), Jean-Claude Kanku (consultant), Desire Sangara (AngloGold-Ashanti’s Manager in the Kinshasa office), and Mark Hanham (Engineer).(37)

AngloGold’s Chief Executive Officer Bobby Godsell (former Chairman of the World Gold Council) dismissed the allegations and announced they were going to continue work in Mongbwalu, but he promised to pull out of the Congo if his workers were forced to pay militias off to ensure their safety.(38) In the meantime Anglo-American is looking to sell AngloGold-Ashanti. Newmont Mining has shown interest in a merger with AngloGold, which would seriously dilute Anglo-American’s ownership, but not eliminate it. Despite the plans to sell off AngloGold, Anglo-American still plans for formally open two offices in the Congo: one in Kinshasa and one in Lubumbashi. Anglo-American, which posted a whopping 46% profit in 2006, is looking to buy back three billion dollars (U.S.) worth of shares and invest in copper projects in the Congo.(39)

(Then) AngloGold-Ashanti’s President and Non-Executive Director Sir Samuel Kwesi Jonah, reportedly backed the RCD financially after L. Kabila revoked a mining contract from him while he was the Chief Executive Officer of Ashanti Goldfields Limited. Ashanti originally bought the concession from Mindev for only five million dollars (U.S.). After the RCD/ANC controlled the area, the RCD’s Minister of Mining Alex Thambwe returned the contract to Ashanti Goldfields.(40) Sir Jonah resigned from AngloGold-Ashanti’s Board of Directors in February 2007.

Sir Jonah is a Board Member of Lonmin, the Commonwealth African Investment Fund (Comafin), Transnet Limited, Anglo-American Platinum Corporation Limited, the Ashesi University Foundation, Equinox Minerals (Chairman), the uranium-producing nuclear power company UraMin Incorporated (Chairman), Anglo-American Corporation, Ghana Airways, Moto Goldmines Limited, Scharrig Mining (Chairman), Sierra Rutile Limited (Chairman), Sierra Resources Holding, Range Resources Limited (which holds the rights to all the minerals in the Somali semi-autonomous state of Puntland), Titanium Resources Group, Copper Resources Corporation (with George Arthur Forrest and George Andrew Forrest), Standard Bank Group of South Africa, Bayport Holding Limited, Transnet Limited, Equator Exploration Limited in Nigeria and São Tomé & Príncipé (with Baronness Lynda Chalker), and he is a former director of Mittal Steel (currently in the proverbial hot seat for a contract they signed with the government of Liberia)

He is a member of the Advisory Council of the U.N. Secretary General's Global Compact, South African President Thabo Mbeki's International Investment Advisory Council, the African Regional Advisory Board of the London Business School, First Atlantic Merchant Bank, Defiance Mining, Ghanian President John Kufuor's Ghana Investors' Advisory Council, President Obasanjo Nigerian Investors’ Advisory Council, and serves as a Presidential Advisor to President Mohamud Muse Hersi of the Somali state of Puntland. He also holds an honorary British knighthood, the Star of Ghana and several other international awards and titles. He recently announced plans to open his own firm called Jonah Mining.

Currently, the Canadian company African Mineral Fields Incorporated (AMFI), recently purchased by Nevada-based Magnus Resources Incorporated, owns rights to a section of Concession #38. African Mineral Fields also owns gold mining concessions in Uganda at Mwerusandu, and Mitoma, Mubende, and Lugazi. Bruce Milne, AMFI’s Uganda Exploration and Country Manager, originally discovered the concessions Barrick Gold currently owns in Tanzania. John Dixon, a consulting geologist for AMFI, once worked as a consultant for Placer Dome from 2000 to 2006. Placer Dome was bought out by Barrick in late 2005.

Moto Goldmines Limited (headed by Sir Samuel Jonah) entered into a joint venture on Concessions # 38 and #39 (which includes the mines in Durba, Karagwa, and Chauffeur) through its subsidiary Borgakim Mining SPRL (a subsidiary of Border Energy Limited, which is itself a subsidiary of Moto Goldmines Australia Limited, whose parent company is Moto Goldmines Limited). Originally, a joint venture was created between the privately owned Orgaman SPRL and OKIMO on 10 May, 2003. Moto Goldmines then bought into the existing agreement between the two and became a 60% owner of the property.(41)

Moto Goldmines Limited was created when Moto Goldmines Australia Limited (formerly Equis Limited) and King Products Incorporated (formerly Wizard Lake Petroleum Corporation) merged in 2005. Moto Goldmines has set up a complicated series of 13 subsidiaries in order to control as much of Concession # 38 as possible. Border Energy Limited is a wholly owned holding company of Moto Goldmines Limited. Moto Goldmines Limited created several subsidiaries as joint ventures with Border Energy, many of which are active in Ituri District and have entered into joint ventures of their own with OKIMO. They include Rambi Mining SPRL, Blue Rose SPRL (owned by Blue Rose Investments Limited in Strathavon, South Africa), Kibali Gold SPRL, Amani Gold SPRL, Gorumbwa Mining SPRL, Tangold SPRL (owned by Greendale Universal Holdings Limited in Roadtown on Tortala Island, British Virgin Islands) , and the aformentioned Borgakim SPRL. Orgaman SPRL was previously established in the Congo to import frozen fruit and is owned by Belgian William Damseaux. Reginald Gillard is the company’s President and Jean-Claude Damseaux is the Vice President.

The deal to include Moto Goldfields Limited in the contract has come under heavy scrutiny by the Congolese Government. Mr. Victor Kasongo Shomary, OKIMO’s (then) Managing Director, never approved the contract, but three of OKIMO’s four directors did. The contract was questionable because it had a clause that allowed OKIMO’s Directors to short-sell additional plots of land to Borgakim SPRL. Additionally, the percentage of ownership allocated to OKIMO was only 30% and any additional joint ventures with another Moto Goldmines Limited subsidiaries would likely reduce the percentage further. The contract also required Borgakim SPRL to pay for prospecting the concessions, but they have opted to rely on old studies (funded entirely by OKIMO) for data as a way to save themselves money, which is a breach of the legal agreement. The Ministry of Finance has suspended all negotiations between OKIMO, Borgakim SPRL, and Moto Goldfields Limited. In addition, the contracts of Moto Goldfields Limited’s smaller subsidiaries are under review because of late payments on the lease agreements. OKIMO gave MotoGoldfields Limited an ultimatum: they have 75 days to invest in a metallurgical plant, a power station, and then begin mining in Durba, or else the contract is null and void. Sir Jonah reassured his shareholder, stating OKIMO’s threats have “no legal value and (are) of no effect.” He also accused other mining companies of souring Moto Goldmines’ relationship with President Kabila.(42)

On top of all this, OKIMO’s management is also under investigation for stealing gold from Concession #38. Mr. Kasongo, OKIMO’s Financial Director, and its Sales Manager all stand accused of diverting mined gold for personal profit. Mr. Kasongo was later exonerated of the charges and appointed President Joseph Kabila’s Deputy Minister of Mining. The outside pressure on Mr. Kasongo is evident as he is now proposing to privatize OKIMO via the London and Toronto stock exchanges.(43) Moto Goldmines is counting on Mr. Kasongo’s departure from OKIMO to allow the remaining directors to persuade the incoming director to cooperate with them and approve the contract.

A number of smaller companies with leases on Concession #38 and/or #39 have not honored their contracts because they have been inactive on the mining sites. One is the private firm Aston and Sheffield Commodities-Goldagem SPRL. Aston and Sheffield is Goldagem’s parent company. Goldagem itself is based in Dubai and run by Taoufik Mathlouthi, Chairman of Mecca Cola. Two additional small firms that have not paid for their mining leases are Rambi Mining SPRL and Amani Gold SPRL.

A large company that has failed to honor its mining contract in Ituri is Mwana Africa PLC, owned by Mwana Africa Holdings Limited based in Johannesburg, South Africa. It was founded by three former Anglo-American directors in 2003. The firm began a joint venture project with OKIMO in June of 2005. Mwana Africa is also the vast majority shareholder of a joint venture with Anglo-American located south of Kolwezi, Fungerume, and Likasi in Katanga Province to mine copper and cobalt. With copper prices at records highs, Mwana is agressively seeking to expand its project, while Anglo-American has made deliberate efforts to expand their copper mining assets. They are negotiating with Gécamines to purchase another concession in Katanga Province to expand their project.

Mwana Africa Holdings Limited was bought out by the Dublin-based (Ireland is known to be very leinient on corporate taxes) company African Gold PLC. African Gold PLC purchased Tangold SPRL in June 2004. Tangold SPRL itself owned a single portion of OKIMO Concession #38 at the time of the purchase and that contract is on the verge of being canceled. Mwana Africa Holdings also owns part of Australia-based Gravity Diamonds Limited, a joint venture with BHP Billiton, Asia Marketing Limited (registered in Israel), Intergroup Consultants Limited, and a number of private diamond firms primarily registered in Antwerp, Belgium, home of the Diamond High Council (HRD). Incidentally, Antwerp was also the main port of entry for coltan coming to Europe from the Congo during the coltan boom of the early 2000s. Gravity Diamonds is active in the Congo’s former Kasai Province, Angola, and Australia. Lastly, Mwana also owns Sibika S.A., which had a 20% stake in MIBA (the Congolese state-owned diamond mining entity) at the time of the purchase.44

Mwana Africa Holdings also bought Bindura Nickel Corporation from AngloGold-Ashanti in 2004. Bindura was chiefly active in Zimbabwe as it was a joint venture between AngloGold-Ashanti and the government of Zimbabwe run by President Robert Mugabe. In early May 2004, Bindura’s Chief Executive Officer Leonard Chimimba was shot and killed outside his home in Harare after returning from a meeting with bank executives. He also reportedly visited the Governor of Zimbabwe’s Reserve Bank (Gideon Gono) the day before. The murder occurred after over half a million dollars (U.S.) worth of nickel disappeared from two Bindura trucks driving to South Africa in March. The incident is believed to be the work of business insiders working with criminal syndicates in South Africa.(45)

Mwana Africa recently sought to expand its operations by bidding for the Canadian diamond exploration company SouthernEra Diamonds (through JPMorgan and OZ Management), who holds joint ventures with BHP Billiton and Nyumba Ya Akiba SPRL, as well as their own exploration projects in the Kasai-Occidental and Kasai-Oriental Provinces of the Congo. In addition, they own 20% of MIBA.(46)

As can be expected, the company employs several well-connected individuals. Director Dr. Chris Jennings was an assistant vice president of Falconbridge Limited, a company integrated into Xstrata in August 2006. He was also the Deputy Director of Botswana’s Geological Survey. Chief Financial Officer Mr. Chris Reynolds spent several years with accounting giant (then) Price Waterhouse. President Alasdair MacPhee spent 17 years with DeBeers and Mr. Michael Kritzinger, a company lawyers, provided council for Anglo-American, DeBeers, and Gencor/Billiton.

Notables directing African Gold PLC are Hank Slack (Director of Anglo-American [1981 to 1999], Chief Executive of Minorco [1991 to 1999], current Director of Terra Industries and Engelhard Corporation, former Director of Solomon Brothers and SAB Miller), John Teeling (Chairman of Minco, Petrel resources, Pan Andean Resources, and African Diamonds), Oliver Baring (Executive Chairman of the First Africa Group; former Anglo-American Director; current Chairman of Cluff Mining PLC; non-executive Director of Merrill Lynch World Mining Trust and the Tiedmann Trust Company, and advisor for the The Senient Resources Fund).

Another major player is African Gold’s Chief Executive Officer Kalaa Mpinga. Mr. Mpinga is the son of a former Prime Minister and nephew of Mr. Pierre-Victor Mpoyo (One of L. Kabila’s advisors; the former Congolese Minister of Economy; former Minister of State; owner of the Central Mining Group, and business partner of Zimbabwean Billy Rautenbach, the Director of Gécamines in 1998). Kalaa received his Agricultural Development and Economics degrees at the University of California-Davis and McGill University (Canada) respectively. After graduating, he went to work for the Bechtel Corporation in San Francisco. In 1991, he left to join LTA Limited, which was owned by Anglo-American Corporation. In 1997, he was promoted to Executive Director of Anglo-American’s mining division and worked in the Congo’s Ministry of Economy under his uncle. To this day, Mr. Mpinga continues to hold strong ties with Anglo-Amcerican.(47) From 1998 to 2000, Mr. Mpinga was a Patron and Board Member of the African Business Roundtable and he was also an Executive Director of New Business Africa. In 2001, he was one a founding member of Mwana Africa Holdings.

He currently is a Director of Group Five Limited (a huge construction firm), and GijimaAST, a technology corporation based in South Africa. In addition, he is Chairman of Bindura Nickel Corporation. Many of Mr. Mpinga’s recent projects are funded by Lansdowne Partners Ltd. and Marshall Wace LLP.(48) On a personal note, Mr. Mpinga is an open admirer of the late DeBeers/Anglo-American patriarch Harry Oppenheimer, calling him, “A great African, a man with a vision for the continent and indeed a pioneer of African renaissance.”(49)

David Barouski is an African Affairs researcher with a focus on Central Africa. He was the co-recipient of a Project Censored award in 2006 and is a regular contibutor to Znet. His work has appeared in Z Magazine, Waheen Online, the Somaliland Times, and Congo Panorama. He is the author of the book, “Laurent Nkundabatware, his Rwandan Allies, and the ex-ANC Mutiny: Chronic Barriers to Lasting Peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” which he traveled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda to research.

1 “Congo’s Coltan Rush,” BBC News. 1 August 2001.
2 “Half of Congo Licenses May Not Comply,” David McKay. Mining MX. 3 April, 2007. http://www.miningmx.com/mining_fin/.htm.
3 Reno, William. “Sovereignity and Personal Rule in Zaire.” African Studies Quarterly. Volume 1, Issue 3. May 1997.
4 “New Leaders Take Africa Into Their Own Hands,” Sam Kiley. The Times. 20 May, 1997.
5 Madsen, Wayne. “Genocide and Operations in Africa: .” Lampeter, Ceredigion, Wales, United Kingdom: Edwin Mellen Press, Limited. 1999. pg. 283, 300-301.
6 Ibid. pg. 281; Baracyetse, Pierre, Loudiebo, Alexandre. “The Geopolitical Stakes of the International Mining Companies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Ex-Zaire).” English Translation. 2000.
7 Madsen, Wayne. “Genocide and Operations in Africa: .” Lampeter, Ceredigion, Wales, United Kingdom: Edwin Mellen Press, Limited. 1999. pg. 280-283.
8 Baracyetse, Pierre, Loudiebo, Alexandre. “The Geopolitical Stakes of the International Mining Companies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Ex-Zaire).” English Translation. 2000.
9 “Friends in High Places,” Richard C. Morais. Forbes. 10 August, 1998.
10 “U.S. Firms Stake Claims in Zaire’s War,” Cindy Shiner. CNN. 17 April, 1997.
11 Madsen, Wayne. “Genocide and Operations in Africa: .” Lampeter, Ceredigion, Wales, United Kingdom: Edwin Mellen Press, Limited. 1999. pg. 67, 280-283.
12 Ibid. pg. 70.
13 Ibid. pg. 283; “Firm From Clinton's Home Town Has Deal With Zaire Rebel Chief,” Christopher Ruddy. NewsMax. 16 May, 1997; “Congo-Zaire,” Conor de Lion. Global Finance. June 1997.
14 “U.S. Firms Stake Claims in Zaire’s War,” Cindy Shiner. CNN. 17 April, 1997.
15 “DeBeers Bows to Zaire Rebels,” Stefaans Brümmer, Chris McGreal. Mail & Guardian. 18 April, 1997.
16 United States Department of the Interior. “The Mineral Industry of Zaire.” George J. Coakley. 1997.
17 United States Department of the Interior. “The Mineral Industry of Congo (Kinshasa).” George J. Coakley. 1998.
18 “Canadian Companies in the Congo and OECD Guidelines.” Corporate Knights. Issue CK 16. 5 June, 2006.
19 “Gold Producer Buys Barrick Properties,” Las Vegas Review-Journal. 17 May, 1998.
20 “The Curse of Gold: Democratic Republic of the Congo.” Human Rights Watch. 26 April, 2005. pg. 16; “OKIMO History,” ASC Goldagem SPRL. Accessed 9 February, 2007. http://www.goldagem.com/corporate/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=28.
21 United States House of Representatives Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights of the Committee on International Relations. “Suffering and Despair: Humanitarian Crisis in the Congo.” One Hundred Seventh Congress, Session 1. Serial No. 107–16. 17 May, 2001.
22 “Shifting Sands: Oil Exploration in the Rift Valley and the Congo Conflict.” Dominic Johnson. Pole Institute. 13 March, 2003. pg. 9-10.
23 Private Interview. 2006.
24 “Don Doyle Explains ‘Blanchard vs. Barrick and J.P. Morgan’.” Jay Taylor. Jay Taylor’s Gold and Technology Stocks. Volume 22, Number 15. 3 January, 2004.
25 “Barrick Gold Eliminates Non-Project Hedge Contracts but Retains 9.5m Project Gold Hedge,” Dorothy Kosich. Mineweb. 23 February, 2007. http://www.mineweb.net/whats_new/.htm.
26 UK Defence Firm Lobbied Minister to Drop Corruption Probe: Report,” Agence France Pressé. 16 December, 2006.
27 “BAE Systems,” Campaign Against Arms Trade. Accessed 12 February, 2006. http://www.caat.org.uk/publications/armsfairs/dsei-2003-report/baes.php.
28 “Gustavo A. Cisneros,” americaneagle.com. The Global Information Infrastructure Commission. Accessed 9 October, 2006. http://www.giic.org/commissioners/bio/bio_cisneros.asp.
29 Madsen, Wayne. “Genocide and Operations in Africa: .” Lampeter, Ceredigion, Wales, United Kingdom: Edwin Mellen Press, Limited. 1999. pg. 74.
30 Philpot, Robin. “Rwanda 1994: Colonialism Dies Hard.” Robin Philpot, The Taylor Report (Phil Taylor). 2004. http://www.taylor-report.com/Rwanda_1994/.
31 Palast, Greg. “The Best Democracy Money Can Buy.” New York, New York: Plume (Penguin Group). 1st American Edition. 2003. pg. 93.
32 “Paul Desmarais,” Wikipedia. Accessed 10 October, 2006. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Desmarais.
33 “Burston-Marsteller: A Corporate Profile,” Corporation Watch UK. July 2002. http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=395.
34 “Ituri: BTP’s Machines to Rehabilitate the Aru-Watsa Axis,” Radio Okapi. English Translation. 20 January, 2007. http://www.radiookapi.net/article.php?id=6579.
35 “The Western Heart of Darkness: Mineral-Rich Congo Ravaged by Genocide and Plunder,” Asad Ismi. CCPA Monitor. October 2001.
36 “A Dream Deal for Gold Fields,” Allan Secombe. Mining MX. 25 January, 2007. http://www.miningmx.com/gold_silver/.htm.
37 “The Curse of Gold: Democratic Republic of the Congo.” Human Rights Watch. 26 April, 2005; Private Interview. 2006.
38 “AngloGold Settles DRC ‘Key Concerns’,” Brendan Ryan. Mining MX. 7 August, 2007. http://www.miningmx.com/gold_silver/.htm.
39 “Anglo American Profits Grow 46%,” BBC News. 21 February, 2007; “Anglo $3bn Share Buyback in 2007,” Allan Seccombe. Mining MX. 21 February, 2007. http://www.miningmx.com/mining_fin/.htm; “Stability Tempts Mining Companies Back to Congo,” Rebecca Bream. Financial Times. 21 February, 2007.
40 Madsen, Wayne. “Genocide and Operations in Africa: .” Lampeter, Ceredigion, Wales, United Kingdom: Edwin Mellen Press, Limited. 1999. pg. 305.
41 Alternative Investment Market (London). “Schedule 1 – Pre-Admission Announcement: Moto Goldfields Limited.” 17 March, 2006. http://www.motogoldmines.com.au/aim/Pre-admission%20announcement%20and%20appendix0306.pdf. Note: Must have Adobe Reader to view.
42 “Business Borgakim-OKIMO: Exact Contours of a Contract That Wants to ‘Kill’ Kilo-Moto for Good!,” DigitalCongo3.0. English Translation. 18 January, 2007. http://www.digitalcongo.net/article/40343; “OKIMO, A Very Annoyed Trade-Union Delegation!,” La Prospérité. English Translation. 19 January, 2007; “Mining Conflict OKIMO-Borgakim: Anxious Interference From Minister Balamage!,” DigitalCongo 3.0. English Translation. 30 December, 2006. http://www.digitalcongo.net/article/39948; “OKIMO Says Clock is Ticking on Moto,” David McKay. MiningMX. 16 February, 2007. http://www.miningmx.com/juniors/.htm; “Update on the Moto Gold Project.” Moto Goldmines Limited. Press Release. 26 February, 2007; “Moto’s Jonah in Congo Parley,” David McKay. Mining MX. 29 March, 2007. http://www.miningmx.com/gold_silver/.htm.
43 “Congo Accuses Canadian Mining Firm of ‘Cheating’,” The East African. 12 March, 2007.
44 “Year in Review 2006: Democratic Republic of the Congo July to December.” Great Lakes Center for Strategic Studies. 2006. pg. 24.
45 “Mining Boss Shot Dead,” Daily Mirror. 12 May, 2004.
46 “Mwana Launches Hostile Bid for SouthernEra Diamonds,” Rodrick Mukumbira. Mineweb. 19 March, 2007. http://www.mineweb.co.za/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page31?oid=16385&sn=Detail.
47 “Mpinga Still in Cahoots With Anglo,” African Mining Intelligence. N°149. 7 February, 2007.
48 “Fertile Ground: Hedge Funds Travel to Africa,” Alistair MacDonald. The Wall Street Journal. 6 October, 2006.
49 “Tribute to Harry Oppenheimer: Pioneer of African Renaissance,” Kalaa Mpinga. Daily Dispatch. 29 August, 2000.

Table Bay Hotel drama (Katanga mineral riches in play in Cape Town)
(Source: Mineweb)

Caesar's wife, in the form of Cynthia Carroll, nearly rubs shoulders with Niko Shefer, a carnivorous rum runner fresh from a Big Shark Hunt.

Author: Barry Sergeant
Posted: Wednesday , 06 Feb 2008

JOHANNESBURG -

You get seal-swallowing Great White Sharks offshore the environs of Cape Town, but this week the city opened its wind-punched arms to an annual international carnival of decadence and bad taste known as the mining Indaba. At one point, Cynthia Carroll, the CEO of Anglo American (AAL LN, £28.30 a share), once the world's leading mining company, nearly brushed shoulders with Niko Shefer, a rum runner who had just returned from a Big Shark Hunt.

This so nearly happened in the foyer of the Table Bay Hotel, Cape Town's version of Dubai's decadent seven-star Burj Al Arab Hotel. Shefer was followed by a flapping entourage of motley characters, most of them Congolese, but also including a pony-tailed paleface who looked as if he might have just hit town with some interesting business from Mexico.

The whispers around the hotel were that Shefer had hired 10 rooms in the Table Bay Hotel for the four day duration of the Indaba, along with five big fat depraved limousines. Shefer's spokesman, at last count, one Chris Vick, was not taking calls to confirm or deny the details of Shefer's post-shark attack on the Table Bay Hotel.

Vick is known across the planet for his impassioned appeals that the world rinses its memory of Shefer's criminal conviction on corruption charges, way back in 1989. Well, everyone's naturally forgotten that, but it's difficult to erase the memory of Shefer being declared a personal non grata in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), just six months ago, after his name was connected to a tangled would-be uranium deal. Nobody, but nobody, should let Shefer near that stuff.

Carroll, who is above suspicion and whiter than Caesar's wife, gave a speech that said nothing negative about anything in the world, scarcely recognising last month's meltdown at Eskom, one of the greatest institutional failures in African history. In another lily-white speech, this one dripping with schmooze, Victor Kasongo, DRC Vice Minister of Mines, outlined a "new" plan to "fast track" solutions to his country's review of mining contracts. The media happily doled out the story, the biggest one at this year's Indaba, to their audiences.

Victor Kasongo is nothing more than a runner for the Holy Trio: DRC president Joseph Kabila, along with his closest adviser, Augustine Katumba Mwanke, and a notoriously litigious paleface who can be handily referred to as The Real Shark Hunt. Kasongo's job down in Cape Town was to sound like a vegetarian Great White Shark, but always looking like a Great White Shark craving fresh meat. On Wednesday morning he bored hundreds of people to tears and sleep over a breakfast that should have been depraved and decadent and highly meaningful.

In the Real Shark Hunt, mining companies backed by billions of dollars of Western capital are being kicked around like packs of rats and other assorted small vermin.

A few weeks back, Toronto-listed Katanga Mining (KAT CN, C$13.02) - currently merging with London-listed Nikanor - (NKR LN, £3.99) was forced by DRC parastatal Gécamines (La Générale des Carrières et des Mines) to surrender two of its valuable properties into a Chinese deal. Katanga Mining has admitted to the deal, but has politely declined to explain what it received as a quid pro quo.

And so it goes. There is no end of decadent and bizarre deals going down in Katanga Province , which houses the majority of the DRC's copper, cobalt, zinc and uranium riches. In a July 18 2006 report to the UN's Security Council, the Group of Experts on the DRC raised serious questions over concession rights held by individuals of unknown or questionable standing. Noting that the DRC's Mining Cadastre listed 2,144 mining and quarrying concessions, the Group of Experts argued that "an undetermined number appear to be held by concessionaires affiliated with investors whose personal and professional integrity is doubtful".

This lack of transparency, the Group of Experts argued, provided "hiding places for sanctioned individuals, financiers of embargo violators and for other individuals who simply do not meet the standards of the Code Minier". As an example of a "due diligence failure", the report referred to Camec (CFM LN , £0.45), and noted that Conrad Muller "Billy" Rautenbach, a major shareholder in Camec, was wanted by the authorities of South Africa for fraud and theft. Rautenbach has ostensibly sold Boss Mining (concessions 467 and 469) and also concessions 1590-1605 to Camec. Rautenbach was last year declared a persona non grata in the DRC. Like Shefer, he is desperately trying to have the ban lifted. Like Shefer, he is wont to try and do extraordinary things, but he is excluded from shark hunts in landlocked Zimbabwe.

These days, Camec has joined forces with an entity known as Prairie to list the "Mukondo JV", representing what may well be the world's richest cobalt deposit, on a big stock exchange. Among the cash raised from the would-be listing, a minimum of $400m will go to Prairie, and $170m to Camec. This week, a coalition of NGOs published audit reports - signed by Ernst & Young - of four of the entities going into the Mukondo JV, Boss Mining, Kababankola Mining Company, Mukondo Mining, and La Société Minière de Kabolela et de Kipese sprl, insisting that prosecutors and stock exchange regulators in Europe and North America carefully examine the audits "to consider whether there is sufficient evidence to trigger prosecutions".

Back on due diligence failures, the UN Group of Experts report also referred to Ruashi Mining (concessions 627, 578, and 72), noting that Shefer, "ex-convict and currently indicted by the authorities of South Africa, is the controlling shareholder of Ruashi Mining". Under cover of layers of entities, including Sentinelle Global Investments, Shefer "sold" Ruashi to Metorex (MTX SJ, R19.66), and later realized benefits to the tune of around $400m, according to individuals familiar with the situation. After events that unfolded this week, Metorex could show its class by explaining one or two things in and around Compagnie Miniere du Sud Katanga.

There is also the would-be swindle of Kalukundi, a glorious copper-cobalt asset that belongs to Africo (ARL CN, C$1.69). As for The Real Shark Hunt, the free speculation amid the depravity and decadence of this year's Indaba carnival was that the people who know the most about that story are likely to be Glencore's Ivan Glasenberg and Lloyd Pengilly of JP Morgan Cazenove.

Then there is Moïse Katumbi Chapwe, governor of Katanga Province, but his is one of many stories for another day.

*Selected DRC/Zambia copper miners*
	Stock	From	Value
	price	high*	US$bn
First Quantum	C$75.43	-33.9%	5.12
Equinox	C$4.65	-33.6%	2.62
Katanga Mining	C$13.02	-53.6%	2.57
Nikanor	£3.99	-36.6%	1.10
Camec	£0.45	-44.2%	0.99
Metorex	R19.66	-35.3%	0.93
Anvil	C$12.70	-37.5%	0.90
Teal	C$4.75	-22.1%	0.26
Copper Resources	£1.87	-0.5%	0.22
ZCI	R11.35	-60.8%	0.19
Mwana Africa	£0.36	-56.9%	0.18
African Copper	£0.53	-47.5%	0.14
Zambezi Resources	£0.15	-50.0%	0.05
Africo	C$1.69	-64.4%	0.05
African Eagle	£0.10	-40.6%	0.03
Simberi	C$0.06	-45.5%	0.01
		-41.4%
*Diversified*
BHP Billiton	£15.97	-15.9%	179.46
Freeport-McMoRan	$85.91	-28.5%	32.81
Vedanta	£19.31	-20.2%	10.90
Lundin	C$7.93	-49.9%	3.10
* 12-month high

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Israel and the Ongoing Holocaust in Congo

Gertler’s Bling Bang Torah Gang

Israel and the Ongoing Holocaust in Congo (Part 1)

by Keith Harmon Snow / February 9th, 2008

Maurice Templesman is one of the top funders of Barrack Obama and Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party. Templesman was the unofficial ambassador to the Congo (Zaire) for years, but a new Israeli-American tycoon has replaced him. In the world of bling bling and bling bang, some things change, some stay the same. The CIA, the MOSSAD, the big mining companies, the offshore accounts and weapons deals—all hidden by the Western media. The holocaust in Central Africa has claimed some six to ten million people in Congo since 1996, with 1500 people dying daily.1 But while the Africans are the victims of perpetual Holocaust, the persecutors hide behind history, complaining that they are the persecuted, or pretending they are the saviors. Who is responsible?

For Israeli-American Dan Gertler, business in blood drenched Congo is not merely business, it is a quest for the Holy Grail. Young Dan Gertler goes nowhere—does nothing—without the spiritual guidance of Brooklyn-born Rabbi Chaim Yaakov Leibovitch, a personal friend of Condoleeza Rice.2 Gertler and Leibovitch are two of the principals behind a diamond mining company, Emaxon Finance Corporation, involved in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Gertler and gang won the majority rights to the diamonds from the state mining company, Société Minière de Bakwange, MIBA, found near the government-controlled town of Mbuji-Mayi, the rough diamond capital of the world.

Emaxon Finance Corp. has apparently out-maneuvered diamond competitors, especially the big rivals Energem and De Beers. Energem is one of the many shady mining companies connected to Anthony Teixeira, a Portuguese born businessman now residing in South Africa whose daughter married Congolese warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba. The warlord’s deadly battle in Congo in March 2007 was a bid between rival agents—Jean-Pierre Bemba and Joseph Kabila—to be the black gatekeeper for the mining cartels run by dynastic families like Templesman, Oppenheimer, Mendell, Forrest, Blattner, Hertzov, Gertler and Steinmetz, and for companies like NIKANOR, whose stock prices rose early in July 2006 in expectation of a July 30th “win” for Joseph Kabila.3 Africa Confidential called President Kabila’s 2003 visit to the Bush White House a “coup” for the Israeli diamond magnates Dan Gertler and Beny Steinmetz.

Canadian-based Energem, formerly DiamondWorks, is owned by British mercenary Tony Buckingham and its director/shareholders include Mario and Tony Teixeira, J.P. Morgan, and Gertler’s partner Israeli-American Beny Steinmetz (50%).4 Through subsidiary Branch Energy, the Energem-DiamondWorks gang has perpetuated war in 11 African countries.5 In December 2007, Energem re-launched itself on the London Stock Market with the newly laundered image of a renewable energy company. Regarding diamonds, it said only it “had decided to give up exploration rights in the Central African Republic.”6 The Energem spokesman explained that Tony Teixeira “had a clean bill of health” etc., etc. Of course, Energem “quit” the C.A.R. because Jean-Pierre Bemba marched his troops into C.A.R., where they raped and pillaged widely.7 Energem is still operating in Congo, but Dan Gertler is the new, unofficial ambassador to the Congo for the George W. Bush gang.

Gertler and partners like Beny and Danny Steinmetz, Nir Livnat, Chaim Leibovitz and Yaakov Neeman run a hornet’s nest of companies involved in African hotspots, including: Dan Gertler International (DGI), Steinmetz Global Resources, International Diamond Industries, NIKANOR and Global Enterprises Corporate.

“Dan Gertler is ‘the new kid on the block,’” writes Yossi Melman in Israel’s Haaretz news. “Bold, sophisticated, brutal, he is an adventurer with a short fuse.” Haaratz confirmed that Dan Gertler owns a complex network of interconnected companies, often registered in offshore tax havens and involved in India, Russia, Belgium and the United States, and that Dan Gertler is looking to God for guidance.8

THOU SHALT NOT STEAL

“In the diamond industry,” Melman wrote, “Gertler is considered something of an odd bird. He maintains few ties with the other merchants and is not very sociable… Alongside his business affairs, most of his energy is channeled into matters of faith. He is a donor to religious institutions and from time to time makes a pilgrimage to the rabbi he most admires, Rabbi David Abuhatzeira, from Nahariya, in order to consult with him and receive his blessing. Gertler is surrounded mostly by religious people and laces his speech liberally with praise to God.”8

In 2003, Condoleeza Rice, then Assistant to President Bush for National Security Affairs, introduced Dan Gertler and Chaim Leibovitch to U.S. official Jendayi Frazer, a Harvard Kennedy School affiliate and former National Security Council agent focused on Africa. On December 6, 2006, Frazer, then Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, was one of seven special Bush delegates sent to the inauguration of Congo’s newly installed President Joseph Kabila in Kinshasa.9

When Dan Gertler and Chaim Leibovitch and their friends visit the luxury Gertler villa in Lumumbashi, the capital of Katanga, Congo’s large southern province, their kosher meals arrive by private plane from Kinshasa. The special executive jet that flies their kosher meals a few hundred miles over the roadless Congo costs some $US 23,000 per trip.10

The average income for Congolese citizens each year—if they survive it—is about $95. Shootings at mining facilities and diamond mines are common, land is stolen from Congolese people, strikes are crushed by security forces that companies are partnered with, and black overseers of state terror routinely arrest and torture any vocal opposition—and sometimes disappear them—in support of white bosses. The Société Minière de Bakwange—MIBA— and the diamond fields of Mbuji-Mayi in Congo have a long history of bloodshed backed by Western powers, including Israel, from the beginning.11 Amnesty International points out that not a single state agent has ever been prosecuted for the extrajudicial executions of suspected “illegal” miners in Mbuji-Mayi.12

After a century of exploitation and slavery, we find MIBA consistently withholding payment of salaries to starving Congolese laborers and middle managers for months at a time. April and May 2007 saw strikes and protests leading to the Kabila government’s arbitrary arrest, detention and torture of trade union organizers like Leon Ngoy Bululu; police have also shot protestors.13 So-called ‘illegal’ diamond workers—disenfranchised local Congolese people forced into “criminal” activities to survive—were summarily executed on MIBA concessions in Mbuji-Mayi. MIBA security guards have also been sniping unemployed diamond miners.14

Meanwhile, Dan Gertler’s kosher meals depart Kinshasa, the capital of the big Congo, through the arrangements of Rabbi Chlomo Bentolila, high priest of the Chabad of Central Africa. Rabbi Chlomo Bentolila has been a Kinshasa Rabbi since 1991, and he was a spiritual force who survived the terrorism of the old dinosaur, Mobutu Sese Seko, the way most elites did: by working with him. Rabbi Bentolila is a member of the Chabad Lubavitch Global Emissary Network, headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, and his wife Miriam is the sister of Rabbi Mena’hem Hadad, a high priest in Brussels.15

“Kosher does not mean that a Rabbi blesses the food,” Rabbi Betolila corrected me, “but rather that the food was supervised by a Rabbinical Thora [sic] authority who sees that the ingredients were in accordance with the laws of Kashrut expressed in the Bible (Leviticus and Deuteronomy).”16

Dan Gertler often flies people into Congo, on his private jet, for sacred Jewish rituals. For the Bar Mitsvah of Rabbi Chlomo Bentolila’s son Binyamin Avrahim in June 2005, guests included eminent Rabbis, Hassidic singer Yoni Shlomo and special orchestra Yossef Brami, all arriving in “special flights” from Israel, New York and Brussels. The reception was held at the luxurious and exclusive Memling Hotel. Joseph Kabila sent a sizeable delegation but did not attend: his closest advisers provided a blessing on his behalf.17

The Gertler, Steinmetz and Templesman interests are advanced in part through the support of the Committee of the Jewish Community of Kinshasa—le Comité de la Communauté Israélite—that is tightly coordinated with the power structure in Kinshasa to exert influence and assure control of Israeli-Belgian-Anglo-American interests over the geopolitical arena.

From June 26-30, 2007, the Communaute Israelite de Kinshasa received a visit from the Israeli Ambassador Yaakov Revah, director of the Africa Department of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Revah also flew to Lumumbashi for meetings with Dan Gertler and his agents, including Moishe (Moses) Katumbi, the Governor of Katanga, and they most likely enjoyed a lovely, $23,000 kosher meal sent from the Chabad in Kinshasa.18 The Communaute Israelite de Kinshasa maintains very intimate political relations with President Joseph Kabila’s PPRD party, the People’s Party for Reconstruction and Democracy. On March 1, 2006, in a formal ceremony, the President of the Communaute Israelite de Kinshasa, Ashlan Piha, was awarded the Congo’s Medal of Civil Merit.

THOU SHALT NOT COVET

Before his assassination on January 16, 2001, Laurent Desire Kabila—the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)—made a deal with the Gertler gang that would play out in favor of the current President Joseph Kabila and, it seems, be a central factor in relation to both Congo’s ongoing war and the bloody warlord’s battle in Kinshasa in March 2007.19

Back in 2000, former Congolese president Laurent Kabila offered a monopoly on Congolese diamonds, and 88% of the proceeds, to Gertler’s International Diamond Industries (IDI) in exchange for Israeli military assistance to his new government.20 Top Congolese military officials apparently flew to Israel in 2000 to negotiate the deal. Gertler pledged military assistance to President Laurent Kabila through top Israeli officials.21

The original Gertler-Kabila deal fell through after Laurent Kabila was assassinated for not cooperating with the Great White Fathers of industry (January 2001), but Gertler and Leibovitch and their disciples formed another company, Dan Gertler International, and advanced their Congo plan.22 By 2002 Gertler’s company was the leading exporter of Congolese gems, controlling a diamond mining franchise worth about $US 1 billion annually.23

In 2003, the mighty Congolese diamond parastatal Societe Miniere De Bakwanga (MIBA)—which has been forever controlled by the Great White Fathers in Belgium, Israel and America—signed an exclusive contract with Gertler’s startup company, Emaxon Finance International. The deal involved Israeli’s Foreign Defense Assistance and Defense Export Organization (SIBAT), and high-level Israeli defense and intelligence officials. Gertler and his buddies reportedly bribed Congolese officials and Angolan generals who, on and off, have commanded Angolan Army troops protecting Kinshasa, Congo’s capital.21,24

Security for mining operations in Congo is provided by exclusive security companies like Overseas Security Services (OSS) one of the many DRC interests of Belgian billionaire tycoon Philippe de Moerloose. A member of the Kinshasa elite, de Moerloose supplies jets and other presidential toys to DRC President Kabila. In 2006, President Joseph Kabila’s campaign helicopter was at the centre of a legal battle involving Philippe de Moerloose.25 De Moerloose’s companies operated in Mobutu’s Zaire from at least 1991, backing state terrorism and Western corporate plunder that was rendered invisible by the Western media. De Moerloose is also an adviser to European Union (EU) Commissioner—and diamantaire—Louis Michel.

Dan Gertler and Philippe de Moerloose were, reportedly, the only two white men who attended the wedding of Joseph Kabila and the two clearly share interests in “security” provided by OSS at MIBA and elsewhere in Congo. The April 2003 secret agreement signed between the Gertler/Steinmetz company Emaxon Finance and the Kabila government involved MIBA and two de Moerloose companies, OSS-Congo and Demimpex, and other firms.

Overseas Security Services (OSS) operations are apparently grounded in the experience of top expatriate security operatives formerly involved with the biggest security firm in Mobutu’s Zaire.26 According to OSS public relations materials, “these persons have a not unimportant experience in the safety of this country.”26 Providing mine security, body-guard and protection services, OSS operates in Burundi, Ivory Coast, Rwanda, Dubai, South Africa, Republic of Congo (Brazzavile) and Belgium, placing them in cahoots with all sides warring and plundering eastern Congo today.27

Emaxon Finance International is a real gem, one of these octopuses of mining tangled up with interlocking companies and subsidiaries based in specious geographical offshore “tax havens” that work to shield from prosecution people who are responsible for money laundering, weapons and drugs operations, assassinations and other terrorism.

NIKANOR is registered as an Isle of Man (UK) company, an offshore tax haven that helps to conceal criminal activities and maximize profits. NIKANOR directors include Dan Kurtzer, former U.S. ambassador to Israel (2001-2005) and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research under Madeleine Albright. NIKANOR partners include Mende and Moshe Gertner [sic], Israeli property tycoons with vast holdings in London who control 22 percent of NIKANOR. Another partner is Israeli-born Nir Livnat, managing director of Johannesburg-based Ascot Diamonds, a member of the Steinmetz Group of Diamond Companies, and a principal involved in numerous U.S.-based businesses from Miami to New York.28

THOU SHALT NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS

Back in 2001, when the Gertler enterprises surfaced in dirty diamond deals, public relations was handled by Lior Chorev, the “Special Strategic and Communications Consultant” to International Diamond Industries (IDI), and Chorev continued in this role to support Dan Gertler businesses.29 Today, Lior Chorev is partnered with the brothers Yuval and Eyal Arad as director-owners of the Israeli marketing and public relations firm, ARAD Communications.30

“We do work for Mr. Gertler on some of his business issues,” said Lior Chorev.31 ARAD’s many clients include Dan Gertler companies, Los Angeles-based Coral Diamonds and an Israeli aeronautics weaponry manufacturer producing Unmanned Aerospace Vehicles (UAVs)—robotic weapons and intelligence platforms like those being used against the people of Congo today.32 As a political strategist, Lior Chorev has worked for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and current Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.33 He has also participated in Israel-NATO defense planning conferences.34

Dan Gertler is close to Israeli politicians, especially Avigdor Lieberman, head of the right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu party, and he is very close to diamantaire Beny Steinmetz, a good friend of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Gertler’s inseperable friend, Chaim Leibovitz, is also very close to Lieberman, and was “a regular fixture” in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s offices.35

Beny Steinmetz is considered to be one of the richest billionaires in Israel. The Steinmetz Group, controlled with his brother Daniel, is one of the biggest clients of the de Beers diamond syndicate. Steinmetz is also involved in an Israeli real estate group that purchased the assets of the British Haslemere real estate company for $1.46 billion. Steinmetz’s real estate partners include the billionaire Israeli investors David and Simon Reuben, and the Saudi Arabian Olayan Group, an investment company that is deeply connected with Bechtel Corporation.36 The Steinmetz web site map of operations hides their involvement in war-torn Congo.37

Seems Dan Gertler’s land grabs and exclusion in Congo have a lot in common with the current crimes against humanity being committed by Israel through its illegal partition in the Middle East. On January 3, 2008, the Jerusalem Post reported that Lior Chorev was an integral part of past Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s advisers, and he was recently quoted to say that even though Sharon did not get to finalize Israel’s final borders (he suffered a debilitating stroke in 2006), the route of the security fence—which he decided—would ultimately serve as the basis for the border and as Sharon’s lasting legacy.38

“He felt he needed to set the border because he didn’t trust the younger generations,” Chorev was quoted to say. “He knew the fence route by heart and the reason for every stretch of land being on one side or the other.”38

In 2003, the U.N. Panel of Experts on war in Congo revealed that Emaxon Finance International is controlled by Israeli diamond traders Chaim Leibovitz and Dan Gertler.39 Emaxon lists as its address an office in Montreal, Canada, but Emaxon’s majority shareholder is listed as FTS Worldwide, a nebulous global corporation whose business address is that of a firm of lawyers, Mossack Fonseca & Company, in Panama City. FTS Worldwide is registered with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission to lawyer Andre Zolty of Geneva Switzerland. A copy of the MIBA-Emaxon contract was signed on 13 April 2003 by Israeli-Americans Yaakov Neeman and Chaim Leibovitz.40

Yaakov Neeman is a founding partner of Herzog, Fox and Neeman, Tel Aviv, one of Israel’s top law firms, and he has held Israeli government cabinet and ministerial positions.41 Neeman is on the Advisory Board of Markstone Capital Group, a very influential group of investment bankers, with Eli Hurvitz. On the board of Israel’s Teva Pharmaceutical Industries with Eli Hurvitz is Northrup-Grumman director Philip Frost.42 Both Philip Frost and Maurice Templesman are top-level councilors for the American Stock Exchange. Eli Hurvitz sat on the International Advisory Counsel of Harvard University’s Belfer Center, 2002-2005, during the period when the Belfer Center and their intelligence operative Robert Rotberg formalized the “Kimberley Process” to officially whitewash blood diamonds.43 Yakov Neeman is also a governor of the World Zionist Organization and Jewish Agency for Israel.

One of the main objectives of the Kimberley Process, and the Harvard Belfer Center’s role, was to protect the South African Oppenheimer and De Beers diamond cartels and their leading buyers and agents like Maurice Templesman and Beny Steinmetz.44 Added to those diamond industry firms whitewashed by the Kimberley Process are all the Zionist diamond dealers and cartels that have risen like a phoenix out of the ashes of the Holocaust.

The Israeli-American enterprises of the Gertler/Steinmetz gang have proliferated and today are major shareholders or owners of diamond concessions in Congo’s Kasai province and copperbelt concessions in Katanga. The copperbelt is the big money in Congo. Copper prices recently hit an all time high due to monopoly control by corporations and new applications in transportation, aerospace and weaponry. Cobalt is used in dye and paint processes for manufacturing. More importantly, it is elemental to superalloys used for tank armor, spacecraft, turbines, ship hulls, ship hulls, blast furnaces, refineries, petroleum drilling rigs, nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons. Like coltan, or columbium-tantalite, cobalt is also used in cell phone batteries. The Katanga copperbelt is also rich in germanium, a rare metal used in optical fibers, infrared lenses and telecommunication satellites.45

The entire military-industrial-prisons complex revolves around minerals like cobalt, niobium and heterogenite (cobalt oxide), yet the truth about what happens to African people in lands taken over by these mining companies is hidden by the corporate media. More and more land is being stolen, more and more atrocities committed, with less and less transparency, and less and less accountability, and fewer and fewer voices for the voiceless. And, as usual, there are always a lot of empty promises.

THOUGH SHALT HAVE NO OTHER GODS

Over the past fifty years, elite Israeli nationals have perpetrated conflict and injustice in Africa, fueled by and for minerals. Operatives associated with the Israeli military or intelligence services—the Mossad—maintain strategic criminal syndicates in competition and in partnership with other syndicates involving men like Philippe De Moerloose, Louis Michel, Viscount Etienne Davignon, John Bredenkamp and Tony Buckingham.

Israeli trained shock troops became Mobutu’s bodyguards, with Mossad advisers. According to a report by the American Jewish Committee: after 1980 “Mossad agents, military emissaries, and a small group of private businessmen… replaced diplomats as Israel’s main interlocutors with African leaders and political (mainly opposition) groups.” The report cites rising involvement of private defense and security interests, especially in Angola, DRC and Central Africa Republic, since 1992.46

Israeli operatives and “businessmen” appear everywhere there is egregious suffering and dispossession. Dan Gertler’s forays into the bloody world of diamonds involve Israeli arms dealers Yair Klein, who is reportedly wanted by the U.S. for training Medellin drug-cartel militias in Colombia, and Dov Katz.47 Klein was convicted by Israel (1991) for his involvement with groups that targeted and assassinated Colombian politicians, journalists, and police. Jailed in Sierra Leone in 1999, Klein was a field representative for Gertler in war-torn Sierra Leone and Liberia. Gertler also mingles with the Russian Military Brotherhood, a group of “retired Russian generals whom Gertler describes as good friends.”48,49

Retired Israeli Defense Forces Colonel Yair Klein reportedly organized arms for diamonds networks in Sierra Leone and Liberia after President Charles Taylor was deposed. In 1999, Klein was arrested in Sierra Leone on charges of smuggling arms to the rebel Revolutionary United Front.50 The U.N. also documented collaborations between Sierra Leone’ rebels and Lazare Kaplan agent Damian Gagnon; Lazare Kaplan International is one of the organized crime syndicates of Jewish American Maurice Templesman.51

The Steinmetz Group of companies are also involved in the bloody diamond fields of Sierra Leone, along with Energem (formerly DiamondWorks), the company described above that is connected to the white mercenaries depicted in Hollywood’s Blood Diamond propaganda film.52 In December 2007, local people in Sierra Leone struggling to gain the smallest livelihood from their own resources were shot by police during peaceful protests against the Steinmetz-controlled Koidu Holdings site. It’s the same old local people’s story happening everywhere. These were people from communities driven off their own land by mining companies that promised the world, cajoled the trusting people, and gave nothing after. The Steinmetz gang called in the local paramilitary, a curfew was imposed and people were shot; the police, as usual, falsely claimed that protesters were armed.53

Like most mining mafias in Africa, the Israeli octopus—organized crime syndicates, offshore subsidiaries, interlocking directorships and affiliated mercenaries—has gripped the very heart of Congo like an octopus grips and stuns its prey. Mining regulates the pulse of Congo, and foreign mining companies with their black sell-out agents are sucking the blood out of the people and the wealth out of the land.

THOU SHALT NOT KILL

Beyond the intriguing Jewish rivalry for diamonds in the heart of darkness, this tale takes a chilling turn with the involvement of certain German firms and New York City lawyers. NIKANOR, another Gertler/Steinmetz company of dubious origins operating in DRC, has a subcontract with the notorious ThyssenKrupp conglomerate, a company comprised of two former Nazi weapons manufacturers linked to the New York law firm of Sullivan and Cromwell, to Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., Lehman Brothers, Chase Manhattan Bank, J.P. Morgan, DuPont and IBM, in the great Nazi-American money plot.54

These companies were all behind the Jewish Holocaust. The infamous German Krupp firm is the industrial corporation that collaborated with former CIA director Allen Dulles and former U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles. Clients of the Dulles brothers’ law firm Sullivan and Cromwell included Adolph Hitler.54 Ted Terry, one of the senior counselors of the law firm Sullivan and Cromwell today, is also a director of a philanthropy called the Harold K. Hochschild (HKH) Foundation, named for the mining magnate behind AMAX, a company operating in the copperbelt in Zambia, but whose parent company, Phelps Dodge, operates in Katanga, Congo. Harold K. Hochschild was close to the CIA, and he appears to have backed the Katanga succession in the 1960’s just as Dan Gertler in recent years backed the reorganization of power in Congo by force. Sullivan and Cromwell was also the law firm for AMAX. 55,56

Brown Brothers Harriman & Company (BBH) was the primary Wall Street connection for German companies and the U.S. financial interests of Fritz Thyssen, an early financial backer of the Nazi party. BBH bought and shipped millions of dollars of gold, steel, fuel, coal, and U.S. treasury bonds to Germany. These were used to build Hitler’s war machine, and the ties proliferated even after the Nazi concentration camps began churning out skeletons. The horrors of the concentration camps at Auschwitz, Birkenau and Buckenwald became public knowledge long before they became public outrage. It is the same story for Congo.

A PRAYER FOR THE DEAD

There are no records or statistics of the numbers of people brutalized or killed in the diamond or cobalt mining areas, like Kolwezi, Mbuji Mayi, Tshikapa, Banalia, or Kananga in DRC, or Ndola in Zambia, and many of the victims of security abuses will never be known.

When Gertler and Steinmetz and their buddies came to Congo it was soon clear that they had to challenge Zimbabwean tycoons John Bredenkamp and Billy Rautenbach—two cronies of dictator Robert Mugabe involved in pillaging Congo and Zimbabwe for decades. The United Nations Panel of Experts on DRC named both men for plundering copper and cobalt from Katanga, and both deal globally in weapons. Bredenkamp is one of the fifty richest men in England and he reportedly owns a mansion several doors down from Margaret Thatcher’s residence in London.

On November 7, 2007 it was reported that Dan Gertler was instrumental in putting together a deal in which Katanga Mining Ltd. would buy rival NIKANOR for $2.1 billion and merge their adjacent mine projects in Congo to form the world’s largest cobalt company. Also announced was a joint venture between the Central African Mining & Exploration Company (CAMEC) and another Gertler-controlled firm called Prairie International Limited.

The CAMEC/Prairie joint venture will exploit DRC’s Luita copper processing facility, develop the Mukondo Mountain cobalt mine—called the world’s richest cobalt mine—and work on “other” exploration properties. Prairie is majority owned by the family of Dan Gertler. CAMEC is connected to Zimbabwean/South African/British tycoon Billy Rautenbach.57 The DRC government effectively banned controversial Zimbabwean businessman Billy Rautenbach from the country by declaring him persona non grata in July 2007, but this doesn’t seem to stop him from getting what he wants. Rautenbach is also wanted in South Africa on 300 charges of fraud, corruption and theft.

Rautenbach is a former motor car rally driver who controls a business empire in Southern and Central Africa through a British Virgin Islands company called Ridgepoint Overseas Development Limited. In 1998, the short-lived President of Congo, Laurent Kabila, named Rautenbach the managing director of La Générale des Carrières et des Mines (Gécamines), one of Africa’s biggest cobalt mines, the Katanga properties of the Union Miniere de Haut Katanga formerly developed by the Belgian colonial government. Rautenbach today is one of the Africa’s largest exporters of heterogenite (cobalt ore) from the DRC through his Congo Cobalt Company (CoCoCo), but he also has shares in two other lucrative DRC mining firms—Boss and Mukondo—which reportedly earn over US$100 million a month.58

While there has been a lot of Western media fanfare over the Kabila governments’ supposed “independent” review of mining contracts, little substantive change can be expected.59 Structural factors exploit the Congolese people and lands and benefit white businessmen, arms dealers, bankers, and their embraceable black agents. Big business benefits from perception management articles well-placed in media to give the impression that the international system is just, that there are watchdogs, checks and balances.

However, while the DRC and the World Bank present a propaganda front about their ostensible attention to mining reform and the new mining code, NIKANOR—Mining Journal reports—“is in the advantageous position of having entered into a post mining-code contract, ‘which makes us [NIKANOR] relatively comfortable’”60 In other words, the mining review is a sham, it may force some changes, but it will be cosmetic at best.

Dan Gertler and the Steinmetz Group’s partner Jewish-American Nir Livnat is also a director of Anglovaal Mining with Rick and Brian Menell and Basil Hersov of the South African Menell and Hersov dynasties.61 Hersov has been named as a beneficiary of fraud and racketeering involving British BAE Systems weapons deals with shady offshore companies.62

The octopus of South African connections is a story in itself, with links to top officials from Britain to Canada, like Canadian Senator J. Trevor Eyton, and offshore mining companies involved in all the big money (diamonds, gold, petroleum, cobalt) and big corporations with interlocking directorships: Coca Cola, Nestlé, General Motors, and the Bush-connected Barrick Gold Corporation. Barrick, of course, is partnered up with the Oppenheimer/De Beers firm Anglo-American Corporation at six sites in Africa, including Congo.

Rick Menell is a director of Bateman Engineering—owned by Benny Steinmetz—the junior partner of the NIKANOR projects in Katanga. Britain’s Earl of Balfour is a director of both Bateman and NIKANOR. Menell is also the director of Teal Exploration and Mining, whose directors include Joaquim Chissano, former President of Mozambique; Murray Hitzman, a Clinton administration official with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (1994-1996); Hannes Meyer, who worked with Anglo-Gold Ashanti in Congo, 1999-2006, when militias in Ituri were funded to get the gold out. Teal Exploration also has ties to Anvil Mining and Anglo-American Corporation.63

Brian Menell, Nir Livnat’s associate on the board of Anglovaal, is on the board of Energem (formerly DiamondWorks) with Tony and Mario Teixeira. The Livnat connection ties Teixeira into networks that have supported both Joseph Kabila and Jean-Pierre Bemba in Congo’s bloody wars. Energem is also involved in the trans-Uganda-Kenya pipeline, along with Nexant, a subsidiary of the deep intelligence and defense insider Bechtel Corporation.64

Brian Menell is also on the board of First Africa Oil, which operates in seven African countries, and First Africa Oil director John Bentley is a director of Osprey Oil and Gas, whose directors include Carol Bell, a director of the Rockefeller’s Chase Manhattan Bank. Bentley is also on the board of Adastra Minerals—formerly America Mineral Fields (AMF, AMFI, AMX), a company based in 1995 in Hope, Arkansas—and set up by Robert Friedland and Max and Jean-Raymond Boulle, notable “friends of Bill” Clinton. Since 1995, American Mineral Fields has been involved in Brazil, Russia, Norway, Zambia, Angola and the DRC. A criminal backer of the war in DRC, Jean-Raymond Boulle, who holds 36.4 % of the company stock, was the former General Director of De Beers in Zaire, part of the Templesman alliance of terrorism under the Mobutu regime.65,66

The Gertler/Steinmetz interests apparently curry huge favors with Congo’s number two most powerful man, Augustine Katumba Mwanke, one of Joseph Kabila’s closest allies and financiers, former Governor of Katanga (1998-2001) and director of Australia’s Anvil Mining. The UN Panel of Experts (2002) cited Mwanke for illegal arms deals and plunder of Congo: Mwanke negotiated arms purchases through Belgian banks and the DRC mining company MIBA.67 Reportedly, Mwanke personally clears $US 1,000,000 a day through his interests in Katanga mining deals.68

Anvil Mining has been involved in massacres in DRC.69 Anvil directors include former U.S. Ambassador Kenneth L. Brown, who served at U.S. embassies in Brussels, Kinshasa, Congo-Brazzaville and South Africa. Brown was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Africa (1987-1989) under George Schultz and George H.W. Bush and Director of Central African Affairs (1980-1981). The former top internal intelligence and security chief of the United Nations Observer’s Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) has been worked for Anvil mining in Katanga since 2006.70

THOU SHALT NOT RAPE AND PLUNDER

Gertler/Steinmetz interests have also been jostling for copper and cobalt concessions with Kinross-Forrest Group. Gertler has bought up or invested heavily in companies just to close them down. George Forrest also made the UN hit list of Congo’s looters and Forrest and his three sons helped bankroll Joseph Kabila’s 2006 election “victory”.71 George Forrest’s daughter is reportedly married to the son of Louis Michel. Malta and George Forrest are controlling directors in Katanga Mining Limited.

Born as Entreprise Générale Malta Forrest, the Belgian Forrest interests have been pillars of exploitation in Congo since at least 1922, when they launched mining operations in Katanga. Forrest’s Katanga Mining directors include: three Canadians; Congo’s Jean-Claude Masangu Mulongo, a former Governor of DRC and high official at the IMF and World Bank; and the current Governor of the Central Bank of DRC. The Forrest dynasty has munitions factories in Belgium and Kenya, and has partnered with OM-Group, in Ohio [USA], dealing in Congo’s cobalt and coltan. Forrest International also operates in Europe, Burundi—involving him on both sides of Congo’s bloody war—and the Middle East.72 Forrest interests in DRC include aviation, foods, plantations, construction, logging, copper and cobalt mining. Forrest companies are enmeshed in the coltan plunder in eastern Congo.

Katanga is the world’s richest mining metropolis, part of the vast copper belt that stretches across northern Zambia and southern Congo—and the home to unprecedented human misery due to state orchestrated repression and communities overrun with toxic mining, tuberculosis, cancers, immune disorders, racial discrimination and slavery. The Zambian copperbelt concessions over the border involve many of the same companies and interests mentioned above, and others.73

Workers and communities in and around these mines suffer all the standard treatable maladies (typhoid, malaria, tetanus, polio, malnutrition) as well. However, such stories are off the agenda for the North American, European, Japanese, Australian and Israeli media corporations providing the mainstay of English language indoctrination meant to instill racial superiority and a vast ignorance and obliviousness that leaves westerns populations shaking their heads and wringing their hands and clicking their tongues, while all the while wondering “what is to be done?” It does not cross people’s minds that their own hands are dirty, that their own consciousness has been falsified, as all the raw materials from Congo enrich the lives of people in the United States, Canada, Europe and Israel.

The immediate capital investment required for just one Gertler project in Katanga—the Komoto Oliveira Virgule (KOV) project—is reportedly $US 1.8 billion dollars, income to kick start billions of dollars of unused equipment mothballed in the middle Mobutu era. There are rumors that Bechtel is involved, but the KOV project involves ThyssenKrupp AG as a minor player.74

The Krupp firm is one of several German firms involved in the plunder in eastern Congo, exploitation which involves the DeutscheGesellschaft für technische Zusammenarbeit—GTZ—a “German technological cooperation agency” whose Supervisory Board has representatives of four Federal [German] Ministries.75 Krupp industries use coltan and cobalt for superalloys.76 Dr.-Ing. Ekkehard D. Schultz, a ThyssenKrupp director, is also a director of Bayer AG, the Germany firm whose subsidiary H.C. Starck was named for its involvement in the ongoing illegal plunder of coltan and cassiterite (tin) in eastern Congo. NIKANOR director Jay Pomrenze is also a consultant for the Deutsche Bank.77 Certain German and U.S. firms benefit from the military occupation of Rwandan-backed warlord Laurent Nkunda in North Kivu, DRC, where Nkunda controls the Lueshe niobium mine “owned” by Gesellschaft fuer Elektrometallurgie GmbH, a subsidiary of New York-based Mettalurg Group.78,79

HONOR THY FATHER AND THY MOTHER

Dan Gertler’s grandfather, Moshe Schnitzer (d. November 2007), was known in Israel as “Mr. Diamond;” in youth he joined the pre-state underground organization Etzel (Irgoun), an Israeli military cell self-defined as an “untra-nationationalist Jewish militia,” but one that committed acts of terrorism in service to the Israeli cause.8 Moshe Schnitzer assumed a major role in the Africa-Israeli diamond trade in the 1950’s in a partnership business called Schnitzer-Greenstein. Schnitzer later founded the Israel Diamond Exchange in Tel Aviv in 1960, which today brings Israel $14 billion annually in blood business, and is the country’s second-largest industry, but Israel’s top export. King Leopold III of Belgium decorated Schnitzer in recognition of his activities favoring the close relationship of Belgium, Israel and the DeBeers diamond cartels, and Schnitzer was also President of the Harry Oppenheimer Diamond Museum in Israel.80

The diamond jewelry trade in the United States is more than $30 billion annually, and 99%—everything that is not synthetic or artificial diamonds—involves blood diamonds and the above organized crime syndicates. Israel buys more than 50% of the world’s rough diamonds, and the U.S. buys two-thirds of these. The diamond factories are located in Nethanya, Petach Tikvah, Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, Jerusalem, and other cities around the country, but most of the offices were in Tel Aviv in the financial district on Ahad Ha’am Street.81 Dan Gertler’s father, Asher Gertler, and his uncle, Shmuel Schnitzer, manage the original family business, and Shmuel is Vice-Chairman of the Belgian-based World Diamond Council—the entity that spends more money promoting the false image of “conflict-free” diamonds than it does helping any of the people dispossessed or brutalized by the diamond industry.48

On August 16, 2007, Rabbi Bentolila in Kinshasa received a communication asking: “What does the Torah say about men exploiting other men for vast profits while other men are starving and dying all around them? Is there some hierarchy to the Torah that suggests, for example, that black people or Africans are lesser beings, and therefore not to be a concern where profound profits are being made?”

There was no reply from Rabbi Bentolila, he was apparently busy readying for another Bar Mitsvah in Belgium. Unfortunately for Dan Gertler and his spiritual advisers, the Torah says that a Jew can keep a slave, but a Jew kept as a slave must be redeemed, and that—an empty, foolish justification for exploiting innocent people—is how religion falsifies spirituality.

In January 2008 the International Rescue Committee, who is also discussed in this article, released its second survey of mortality in the Democratic Republic of Congo, estimating that 5,400,000 people have died, or some 1500 people every day. Mortality in the Democratic Republic of Congo: an Ongoing Crisis, International Rescue Committee, January 2008. However, IRC statistics are highly biased and politicized. See: keith harmon snow, “Over Five Million Dead in Congo?” Dissident Voice, February 4, 2008. #
Personal interview, Democratic Republic of Congo, August 2006. #
keith harmon snow, “Warlord’s Deadly Battle, Toward Freedom, 2007. #
Officers: Antonio Teixeira, President & CEO; Robert G. Rainey, CFO; Brett Thompson, COO, Mining; Dimitri (Jimmy) Kanakakis, Vice President, Corporate & Legal Affairs; Bernard Poznanski, Corporate Secretary; Board Members: Brian Menell, Richard Dorfman, Bruce Holmes, Robert Rainey, Antonio Teixeira. #
See: “Africa/Diamonds: Rough diamonds,” Africa Confidential, 5 March 2004, Vol. 45, No. 5; and “Equatorial Guinea: All Theft is Property,” Africa Confidential, 17 Nov. 2006, Vol. 47, No. 23: p. 12. #
Tim Hoare, the head of the advisers that launched it, Canaccord Adams, sits alongside rock star and champion of Africa Bob Geldof on the board of the television-production company Ten Alps. See: Ben Laurance, “Energy firm link to blood diamonds,” The Sunday Times, December 30, 2007. #
See: keith harmon snow, “A People’s History of Congo’s Jean-Pierre Bemba,” Toward Freedom, September 18, 2007. #
Yossi Melman and Asaf Carmel, “Diamond in the rough,” Haaretz, March 24, 2005. # # #
See: keith harmon snow, “Congo’s President Joseph Kabila: Dynasty or Travesty?” Toward Freedom, November 13, 2007. #
Private interview, Kinshasa, August 2006. #
See: “Terror in the Diamond Fields: Excessive Force and Impunity in the DRC,” Amnesty International Canada; Democratic Republic of Congo: Government should investigate human rights violations in the Mbuji Mayi diamond fields, Amnesty International, October 22, 2002. #
Making a Killing: The Diamond Trade in Government Controlled DRC, Amnesty International, 2002, AFR 62/017/2002 22/10/2002. #
See: “ICEM protests Congo’s Transport, Diamond Injustices,” International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Worker’s Union, May 7, 2007. #
“Diamond miners killed in DR Congo,” BBC News, 7 August 2006. #
See: Jewish Africa and Chabad. #
Private communication, Rabbi Chlomo Bentolila, August 16, 2007. #
“Lag Baomer in Kinshasa,” June 2005. #
“Visite de l’Ambassadeur Revah a’ Kinshasa,” Kadima 010, June-September 2007. #
See: keith harmon snow, “Behind the Scenes: Warlord’s Deadly Battle in Congo,” Toward Freedom, August 9, 2007. #
Nicole Gaouette, “Inside Israel’s diamond trade: a family affair,” Christian Science Monitor, 21 February 2002. #
Yitzhak Danon, “Top Israelis accused of illegal diamond deals: Israel: Lawsuit claims corruption in Congo diamonds for arms deal,” Globes (Israel), 18 February 2004. See also: “Column One: What Lieberman Wants,” Jerusalem Post, October 20, 2006. # #
Christian Dietrich, “Blood Diamonds: Effective African-Based Monopolies,” African Security Review, Vol. 10, No 3., 2001. #
Yitzhak Danon, “Top Israelis accused of illegal diamond deals: Israel: Lawsuit claims corruption in Congo diamonds for arms deal,” Globes (Israel), 18 February 2004. #
See: keith harmon snow, “Behind the Scenes: Warlord’s Deadly Battle in Congo,” Toward Freedom, August 9, 2007. The Angolan military protected Kinshasa during the so-called “rebellion” involving Rwanda and Uganda. The Angolans do not like the Rwandans or Ugandans due to their military and commercial relations with Angolan rebels, the União Nacionalpara a Independência Total de Angola (UNITA), and because Rwandan and Ugandan soldiers invaded Angola after their failed bid to control the Congo’s strategic Inga Dam power station and Matadi port between 1998 and 2001. Angola sent troops to Congo in July and August 2006, and there were black Angolan troops amongst the European Union mercenary forces—EUFOR—sent to quell any possible rebellions during the “historic national elections.” Angola also sent troops to Congo to back Kabila during the warlord’s deadly battle of March 2007. #
“Presidential Chopper,” Africa Confidential, Vol. 47 Number 23, November 17, 2006. #
See: Overseas Security Services Congo sprl web site. # #
OSS-Congo owner Philippe de Moerloose communicated with this author after his name appeared in a prior story mentioning OSS-Congo and offered to meet in Europe and provide the author with the “correct” information about his companies operations in Congo. Repeated communications with De Moerloose seeking clarifications and information for this story were not answered. #
See e.g., SEC info on Lenorth Holdings and SDG Marketing. #
Lior Chorev, The First [DRC] Diamond Polishing Plant to Move into Full Production, Press Release, DGI Group of Companies, January 11, 2005. #
ARAD Communications web site. #
Private communication, Lior Chorev, January 19, 2008. #
See: keith harmon snow, “Over Five Million Dead in Congo?” Dissident Voice, February 4, 2008. #
Private email communication, Lior Chorev, January 19, 2008. See also: Gil Hoffman, “Olmert, Netanyahu Rivalry Gets Personal,” Israel.jpost.com, March 26, 2006; “Sharon allies and foes joust over new party as March 28 elections are set,” Associated Press, November 22, 2005. #
NATO Transformation, the Mediterranean Dialog, and NATO-Israel Relations, October 23, 2006. #
Yossi Melman and Asaf Carmel, “Diamond in the Rough,” Haaretz, March 24, 2005. #
The Olayan Group web site. #
The Steinmetz Group. #
Gil Hoffman, “Politics; Unconscious Legacy,” Jerusalem Post, features.jpost.com, January 3, 2008. # #
United Nations Panel of Experts Confidential Report. #
Under the contract Emaxon granted Miba loans totaling $5-million in 2003, and a further $10-million subsequently. In exchange, Emaxon gained rights to 88% of Miba’s production at a discount, formally, of 5%. #
Herzog, Fox and Neeman web site. #
Tevapharm. #
See: keith harmon snow and Rick Hines, “Blood Diamond: Doublethink and Deception About those Worthless Little Rocks of Desire,” Z Magazine, June and July, 2007. #
On Neeman and Hurvitz, see Markstone Capital Group; on Robert Rotberg, Maurice Templesman and the Harvard Belfer Center, see: keith harmon snow and Rick Hines, “Blood Diamond: Doublethink and Deception About those Worthless Little Rocks of Desire,” Z Magazine, June and July, 2007. #
Criminal rackets known to the United Nations security were or some time illegally shipping uranium and cobalt out of Katanga by road to Zimbabwe and Tanzania (private interview, U.N. Official, 2006). #
Israel and Africa: Assessing the Past, Envisioning the Future, The Africa Institute American Jewish Committee and The Harold Hartog School Tel Aviv University, May 2006. #
Ron Ben-Yishai and Molly Camprier-Kritz, “The Murder Request Went to the Wrong Address,” Yediot Aharonot weekend supplement on 19 September 1999. #
Nicole Gaouette, “Inside Israel’s diamond trade: a family affair,” Christian Science Monitor, 21 February 2002. # #
For a discussion of the veracity of these facts and more on the “Russian Military Brotherhood” see: Central Africa Minerals and Arms Research Bulletin, Edition 2, International Peace Information Service, June 18, 2001. #
Jimmy Johnson, “Israelis and Hezbollah Haven’t Always Been Enemies,” Appearing in Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions USA, 6 September 2006. #
Report of the Panel of Experts Appointed Pursuant to UN Security Council Resolution 1306 (2000), Paragraph 19, in Relation to Sierra Leone, December 2000. #
Energem web site; and also: keith harmon snow and Rick Hines, “Blood Diamond: Doublethink and Deception About those Worthless Little Rocks of Desire,” Z Magazine, June and July, 2007. #
Mineweb. #
Charles Higham, Trading With The Enemy: The Nazi-American Money Plot, 1933-1949, Delacorte Press, 1983. # #
Susan Mazur, “Deeper Into the Dillon-Euphronios Nexus with David N. Gibbs,” SCOOP, April 26, 2006. #
David Gibbs, The Political Economy of Third World Intervention: Mines, Money and U.S. Policy in the Congo Crises, University of Chicago Press, 1991. #
Eric Onstad, “UPDATE 2-CAMEC shares soar after agrees Congo joint venture,” Reuters, Nov. 7, 2007. #
Brenna Chigonga, “Zimbabwe: Meet Country’s Richest People,” The Herald, July 14, 2007. #
See: Maurice Carney, “Congo’s Contract Review,” Pambazuka News, January 17, 2008. #
Martin Creamer, “Funded NIKANOR presses on with $1,8bn copper mine, refinery,” Mining Weekly, September 21, 2007. #
Julie Walker, “Hersovs and Menells are in no hurry to yield control of Anglovaal,” Sunday Times. #
Evelyn Groenink, “Arms deal: Who got R1bn in pay-offs?” Mail & Guardian, January 12, 2007. #
Teal Exploration & Mining web site. #
Press Release: Kenya-Uganda Oil Products Pipeline, Kenya-Uganda Joint Co-coordinating Commission for Extension of Oil Pipeline, August 17, 2005; see also: Energem web site. #
François Misser and Olivier Vallée, “Des matières premières toujours convoitées. Les nouveaux acteurs du secteur minier Africain,” Le Monde Diplomatique, May 1998, p.24-25; also Wayne Madsen, Genocide and Covert Operations in Africa, 1993-1999, Mellon Press, 1999. #
Diamond Fields International Management. #
‘Inculpations à la Belgolaise’, Le Libre Belgique, 4 June 2004. #
Private interview, Kinshasa, DRC, April 2007. #
Norm Dixon, “Congo Massacre: Australian mining company’s managers indicted,” Green Left Review, November 4, 2006. #
His name is known, but he threatened to track down and break the author’s legs if he is revealed. #
See: Barry Sergeant, “NIKANOR’s Quandry: Meet Dan the Man, King of the Congo,” MoneyWeb, 4 April 2007; “Congo Kinshasa: After the Election” Africa Confidential, Vol. 47, No. 23, 17 Nov. 2006; and United Nations Security Council Report to the Secretary General, S/2003/1027, 23 October 2003. #
George Forrest International. #
Personal investigation, Ndola, Zambia copperbelt mines, 2000. #
Nikanor. #
These are: the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ); Federal Foreign Office; Federal Ministry of Finance; and Federal Ministry of Economics and Labor. Since 1998 the Supervisory Board Chairman has been State Secretary Erich Stather from the BMZ. #
Karen Hayes and Richard Burge, Coltan Mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo: How tantalum-using industries can commit to the reconstruction of the DRC, Fauna & Flora Int’l, 2003. #
NIKANOR web site. #
Metallurg Group. #
See keith harmon snow, “Three Cheers for Eve Ensler? Propaganda, White Collar Crime, and Sexual Violence in Eastern Congo,” Z Magazine on-line (Z-Net), October 24, 2007. #
“Moshe Schnitzer: Un Legende s’en est Allee,” Kadima 010, June-September 2007. #
“The Israel Diamond Exchange — Kiryat Moshe Schnitzer”, Diamond Key, 2002. #

Keith Harmon Snow is an independent human rights investigator and war correspondent who worked with Survivors Rights International (2005-2006), Genocide Watch (2005-2006) and the United Nations (2006) to document and expose genocide and crimes against humanity in Sudan and Ethiopia. He has worked in 17 countries in Africa, and he recently worked in Afghanistan.

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Posted by CRIMES AND CORRUPTION OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER NEWS mparent7777 Marc Parent CCNWON at 1:40 PM

1 comments:

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Cesar; 13/4/08 18:47

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Table Bay Hotel drama (Katanga mineral riches in play in Cape Town)(Source: Mineweb)

Saturday, February 9, 2008

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Table Bay Hotel drama (Katanga mineral riches in play in Cape Town)
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