Apply the current law before trying to change it, Mark Bristow tells Kinshasa
Kinshasa — The Democratic Republic of Congo’s government should ensure its current mining law is applied evenly before trying to change it, according to the CEO of one of the country’s biggest investors. "Instead of trying to garner more, apply the law," Randgold Resources CEO Mark Bristow said in a phone interview from Johannesburg. "We think this code needs to be reformed, but reformation doesn’t mean taking more from fewer, because a significant number of mining investors in DRC don’t work under the code." As few as a third of mining projects in Congo strictly followed the provisions of the 2002 mining code, either because the mines had exemptions or were illegally circumventing the regulations, said Bristow. Congo is now trying to change that law to increase the share of mining revenue that accrues to the state. A revised mining code that was first submitted to parliament in 2015 and opposed by the industry was revived by the government in May. The proposal, currently under revi...
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