23rd Aug 2018 10:43
LONDON (Alliance News) - FTSE 100-listed Randgold Resources PLC on Thursday said miners in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have set up a new body to work on its new mining code.
Firms representing 80% of copper and cobalt and 90% of gold production in the DRC have set up the Mining Promotion Initiative, with its new General Secretary Richard Robinson saying its main aim is to work on a code it says "compromises investors who have invested in the country".
At the start of 2018, the country's government began planning a new mining code, which Randgold Chief Executive Mark Bristow described as "draconian" in February.
The code was passed at the end of January's by the DRC's parliament, and the company had warned it would severely limit the growth of mining in the country.
The new code planned to raise royalties on base metals, such as copper and cobalt, to 3.5% from 2%, and also impose a 5% royalty on certain strategic metals. Further, it hopes to impose a 50% tax on 'super profits', which is income made when commodity prices rise 25% above levels used in a project's pre-feasibility study.
Randgold shares were 0.6% lower on Thursday at 5,036.00 pence each.
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