Gecamines woos Chinese investors for Congo mining projects
刚果国有矿业公司看好中资
广州投资翻译公司：Gecamines掌门人不满西方合资伙伴，称其与中国有色矿业组建的新合资企业可以成为未来合资企业的范本。
The chairman of Gecamines, the state-controlled mining company in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has outlined ambitious plans to partner with Chinese investors to ramp up production of copper and other commodities in the resource-rich African country.
刚果民主共和国的国有控股矿业公司Gecamines的董事长介绍了雄心勃勃的计划，打算与中国投资者合作，提高这个资源丰富的非洲国家的铜和其他大宗商品的产量。广州投资翻译公司。
Albert Yuma Mulimbi told the Financial Times he was dissatisfied with most existing joint ventures involving western mining companies, and claimed they had failed to generate adequate returns for Gecamines.
艾伯特•尤马•穆林比(Albert Yuma Mulimbi)告诉英国《金融时报》，他对现有大多数跟西方矿业公司组建的合资企业感到不满，称它们未能为Gecamines带来足够高的回报。
Gecamines is proposing to use a partnership with China Nonferrous Metal Mining Group to develop a major new copper mine as a blueprint for future joint ventures with other Chinese companies or overseas investors.
Gecamines提出，为了开发一座新的大型铜矿而与中国有色矿业(China Nonferrous Metal Mining)组建的一家合资企业，可以作为未来与其他中国企业或海外投资者组建合资企业的范本。
Mr Yuma said Gecamines was seeking to lift production at projects involving the company to more than 100,000 tonnes of copper a year by 2018, compared with less than 20,000 in 2015. As well as being home to 10 per cent of the world’s copper reserves, the DRC is also a major source of cobalt, widely used in so-called superalloys and lithium ion batteries.
尤马表示，Gecamines正寻求到2018年把该公司所参与项目的年度铜产量提高到10万吨以上，而2015年的这一数字尚不足2万吨。除了拥有世界铜储量的10%，刚果民主共和国也是钴的重要产地。钴被广泛应用于超耐热合金和锂离子电池。广州投资翻译公司。
“We want to become again, as in the past, one of the biggest players in copper and cobalt,” said Mr Yuma in an interview with the Financial Times.
“我们希望像以往那样，再次成为铜和钴的最大供应方之一，”尤马在接受英国《金融时报》采访时说。
After the country’s mining sector was nationalised in the 1960s by the then dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, Gecamines became a major industry force, producing almost 500,000 tonnes of copper each year during the mid-1980s.
1960年代，该国的采矿业被当时的独裁者蒙博托•塞塞•塞科(Mobutu Sese Seko)收归国有。之后，Gecamines成为了一支重要的行业力量，在1980年代中期的年度铜产量接近50万吨。
But the company came close to collapse during the final years of Mobutu’s rule, which ended in 1997.
但Gecamines在蒙博托统治的最后几年里接近崩溃。蒙博托统治终结于1997年。
Mr Yuma said the DRC had been told in the early 2000s by international bodies such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to sell assets to overseas mining companies that would develop the projects and pay dividends and other income streams to the country.
尤马表示，在21世纪初，世界银行(World Bank)和国际货币基金组织(IMF)等国际机构建议刚果民主共和国向海外矿业公司出售资产，后者将开发矿业项目，向该国提供红利和其他收入。广州投资翻译公司。
This left Gecamines with minority interests in major DRC mines, with western companies such as Freeport-McMoRan of the US, Switzerland’s Glencore and Canada’s Ivanhoe Mines having controlling stakes and operating the projects.
这导致Gecamines在国内各大矿业项目中持有少数股权，而西方公司——如美国的自由港迈克墨伦(Freeport-McMoRan)、瑞士的嘉能可(Glencore)和加拿大的艾芬豪矿业(Ivanhoe Mines)——持有控股股份，并作为项目作业方。
But Mr Yuma complained that existing deals with international companies had failed to generate dividends for Gecamines, which is burdened with almost $1.5bn of debt.
但是，尤马抱怨称，与海外公司达成的现有交易未能为Gecamines带来红利，该公司目前背负着近15亿美元的债务。
“We don’t have dividends and all the revenue is exported and transferred,” he said. “So this kind of business is not good any more.”
“我们没有收到红利，所有营业收入都被输出和转移了，”他说。“所以这种生意不再是好业务了。”
Gecamines is embroiled in a legal dispute with Freeport over Tenke Fungurume, the DRC’s largest copper mine, where the two companies were partners.
眼下，Gecamines与自由港在Tenke Fungurume铜矿问题上深陷法律纠纷。两家公司在刚果民主共和国的最大铜矿项目中曾是合作伙伴。广州投资翻译公司。
Freeport announced plans in May to sell its controlling stake in Tenke to China Molybdenum.
今年5月，自由港宣布了把自己在Tenke Fungurume所持的控股股份出售给洛阳钼业(China Molybdenum)的计划。
Last week the deal was completed after Canada’s Lundin Mining, which owns 24 per cent of Tenke, said it had agreed to sell its stake to BHR Partners of China for $1.1bn.
最近，在拥有Tenke 24%股权的加拿大伦丁矿业(Lundin Mining)表示已同意将其股权以11亿美元出售给中国的渤海华美(BHR Partners)之后，这笔交易已完成了。
Gecamines, which owns 20 per cent of Tenke, said the deals involving Freeport and Lundin ignored its pre-emptive rights to buy the stakes.
拥有Tenke 20%股权的Gecamines表示，自由港和伦丁矿业的交易忽视了其买断股权的优先权利。
Gecamines has taken its case to an international court in Paris in an attempt to block the Freeport deal.
Gecamines已将此案诉至巴黎的一家国际法庭，企图阻止自由港的那笔交易。广州投资翻译公司。
“We’re not blocking the Chinese,” said Mr Yuma, who claimed Gecamines had financial backing to buy Freeport’s stake. “We are blocking Freeport who want to sell without respecting our rights.”
“我们不是要阻止中资，”尤马说。他声称，Gecamines拥有买下自由港所持股份的资金后台。“我们要阻止自由港，是为了不让他们在不尊重我们权利的情况下出售股份。”
Meanwhile, in an effort to secure dividends and royalties from existing mines involving overseas companies, Gecamines is planning to audit all major projects in the DRC to see whether it has been treated fairly as a minority investor.
同时，为了确保从海外公司入股的现有矿山获得红利和特许权使用费，Gecamines计划对刚果民主共和国境内的所有大型项目进行审计，以判断自己作为少数股投资者是否得到了公平对待。
“We are conducting various audits in all the joint ventures we have because, I am sorry to say, generally speaking we are not happy with most of them,” said Mr Yuma.
尤马说：“我们正对所有合资项目进行各种审计，因为，我要遗憾地说，总体上看，我们对大多数合资项目都不满意。”
He added the new partnership with China Nonferrous Metal Mining — under which the Chinese company has agreed to spend $2bn to build and operate a copper processing facility in the mineral-rich Katanga province — could be a suitable model for future joint ventures.
他接着说，与中国有色矿业组建的新合资企业，可能成为未来合资企业的合适范本。中国有色矿业同意支付20亿美元，在矿产丰富的加丹加省(Katanga)建造和经营一家铜加工工厂。广州投资翻译公司。
China Nonferrous Metal Mining will have a 51 per cent stake in the facility, with Gecamines holding the remainder, and Mr Yuma said the Chinese company would have its investment repaid through copper sales. Once this was done, he added Gecamines would aim to secure control of the project, suggesting that would happen within eight to 10 years.
中国有色矿业将拥有该厂51%的股份，而Gecamines持有余下的股份。尤马表示，中国有色矿业将通过铜的销售来收回投资。他接着说，一旦中方收回了投资，Gecamines将力求取得项目的控股权。他暗示，这将在8到10年内实现。
“That’s the new vision,” he added, indicating Gecamines initially wanted stakes as high as 49 per cent in future joint ventures, rather than the smaller ones it has in existing partnerships with overseas mining companies.
“这是新愿景，”他补充说。他指出，Gecamines当初想要在未来合资企业中持有至多49%的股权，而不是像现在这样，在与海外矿业公司组建的现有合资企业中持有较少股权。
“If you are not ready to do that . . . we’ll pull you out, push you out and if we have to fight in court to have a decision, we’ll do it,” he said.
“如果你不准备这样做……我们会把你拉出来，把你推出去，如果我们非要诉至法庭以获得一个判决，我们会那么做的，”他说。
Analysts said Mr Yuma’s ability to execute his plan to increase production of copper and cobalt in the DRC could be hampered by the country’s political crisis.
对于尤马提高国内铜和钴产量的计划，分析师们表示，他的执行能力可能会受到该国政治危机的阻碍。广州投资翻译公司。
Joseph Kabila, president, was due to step down this December but elections have been delayed until April 2018, raising tensions in the country. Angry opposition parties have promised to escalate their protest movement if Mr Kabila clings to office.
该国总统约瑟夫•卡比拉(Joseph Kabila)原定今年12月下台，但现在选举已被推迟到2018年4月，这加剧了该国的紧张局势。愤怒的反对党承诺，如果卡比拉拒不下台，他们将升级抗议运动。
Campaigners have called on Gecamines to be more transparent and also question whether the company can raise financing for projects.
活动人士们则呼吁Gecamines提高透明度，并质疑该公司能否为项目融到资金。
“They are a black box in the middle of the Congolese mineral system,” said Nathaniel Dyer of Global Witness. “They haven’t been able to demonstrate on a large scale the ability to carry out these copper projects themselves. They would need to massively up their game in terms of corporate governance.”
“他们是刚果采矿体系中的一个黑匣子，”全球见证(Global Witness)的纳撒尼尔•戴尔(Nathaniel Dyer)说。“他们无法大规模地展示自己具有实施这些铜项目的能力。他们需要大幅度提高公司治理水平。”
Freeport and Lundin declined to comment on Mr Yuma’s complaint about dividends.
自由港和伦丁矿业拒绝就尤马对红利的抱怨置评。广州投资翻译公司。
However, one person familiar with Tenke said it had not paid dividends because the mining companies needed to recover their costs and the funds invested in the project. He added the companies had paid taxes and other monies for exploration to the DRC.
然而，一位熟悉Tenke的人士说，该项目没有支付红利，是因为矿业公司需要收回自己的成本和项目初期投资。他接着说，相关企业已向刚果民主共和国缴纳了税款和其他勘探费用。
Glencore declined to comment. While its DRC operations have not issued a dividend, last year Glencore paid $600m in taxes and royalties to the country.
嘉能可拒绝置评。虽然在刚果民主共和国的业务从未发放红利，但去年嘉能可向该国支付了6亿美元的税款和特许权使用费。
Ivanhoe was not immediately available for comment.
记者未能立即联系到艾芬豪矿业请其置评。
Additional reporting by John Aglionby and Tom Burgis
约翰•阿格里昂比(John Aglionby)和汤姆•博格斯(Tom Burgis)补充报道
