The parliament of the Democratic Republic of the Congo approved the highly contested revised mining code that will see sweeping and immediate changes in how miners do business in the country, Bloomberg News reported Jan. 31.
Among the changes are increased royalties on metals including copper, cobalt and gold and a new 50% tax on "super profits," categorized as income realized when commodity prices surge 25% above levels indicated in a project's bankable feasibility study. The new code also allows the government to raise royalties on cobalt to 10% from 2% should the metal be listed as a "strategic substance."
Furthermore, lawmakers scrapped a 2002 regulation that protected license holders in the country from law revisions by giving them 10 years to comply with changes to fiscal and customs regime. This means the revised mining code is "immediately applicable" to mining companies operating in the country, including Glencore Plc, Randgold Resources Ltd. and Ivanhoe Mines Ltd., the report added.
The revised laws only need President Joseph Kabila's signature to be implemented. Evariste Mabi Mulumba, president of the Senate's Economics and Finance Commission, said the president could sign the law before the end of next week. Patrick Kakwata, president of the National Assembly's natural resources commission, said Kabila will sign the legislation "at his discretionary power."
