(May 17, 2013 at 5:06 pm)festive1 Wrote: You answered your own question. The coorporate interest is to just extract what they can and leave. That's hard to do when there is an armed militia attacking the mines, killing or essentially enslaving the workforce, and in some cases sabatoging the expensive infrastructure. Too much in-fighting in Congo. It's not stable enough for investments to always pay off.
exactly corps interest is too extract what they can and leave the so-called democratically elected congo national government allows them too therefore they stay in power
Congo's $24 trillion mineral wealth: Corporations vs M23
http://www.hangthebankers.com/congos-24-...ns-vs-m23/
Quote:Global financial markets don’t pay much attention to the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. They should. The central African country produces major quantities of tin and tungsten, about half of the world’s cobalt output and about three percent of the world’s copper and gold, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Consumer electronics makers would also be well-advised to watch developments in the war-torn nation, which is a key supplier of columbite-tantalite, or coltan for short—a mineral ore used to manufacture capacitors found in cellphones, tablet computers, laptops and practically every mobile device on the market today.
Like Sierra Leone with its notorious ‘blood diamonds’, DRC Congo has been blighted by the stigma of ‘conflict minerals’ ’ where the proceeds from resources extracted from mines controlled by government or rebel forces are used to fund war. ‘Conflict-free’ certification programs and legislation have sought to reduce market share of resources mined in war zones but convoluted supply-chain networks have allowed buyers to exploit loopholes in the system.
A question for the immediate term is to what degree the unrest will affect production from major assets run by listed global miners.
Though the most recent bout of unrest in Congo threatens the eastern minerals-rich Kivus region near the Rwandan border, any impact will likely be limited as M23 rebels, reportedly backed by Rwanda, may have achieved their “primary strategic and commercial aims” by capturing Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, said Philippe de Pontet, Africa Director at political risk advisor Eurasia Group, in a report on Nov. 22.
