Randgold CEO calls on DRC to promote mining investment
Randgold Resources' chief executive officer Mark Bristow has called on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to develop a mining code to promote the country's international competitiveness, warning the government against the risks of getting it wrong.
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Speaking at the DRC Mining and Infrastructure Indaba by iPAD in Kinshasa, Bristow said that "looming undersupply" of gold across the world can create opportunities for mineral-rich African countries such as the DRC.
However, these nations will have to "compete aggressively" as mining companies' exploration budgets shrink.
During the gold-price boom, miners and host governments focused on short-term gain and not sustainable profitability, Bristow said. As such, global reserves have declined and the quality and production of gold has fallen.
Falling exploration spend now means that mining companies will now be even more selective than before about where they are putting their money, he said.
The Randgold CEO said that the DRC had underperformed other African nations in attracting investment despite its "abundant mineral wealth", because the outcome of the government commission's review into its mining code was still uncertain.
He said: "The question all concerned must ask themselves is this: Will any changes to the existing code promote the DRC's international competitiveness, or will they damage its already fragile position in the investment market?"
Bristow believes that the government's pledge to honour a stability clause for mining in the DRC is essential.
"We believe that just as mining companies are custodians of their investors' funds, so governments are custodians of their countries' natural resources," Bristow said.
"Their objectives and deliverables are closely correlated, and both have an obligation to see that these resources are developed in a way that will build sustainably profitable mining industries that will not only create and deliver value in their own right but will serve as the engines that drive general long-term economic growth."