Mineral Invest concludes agreement on gold deposits in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
Mineral Invest International MII AB (publ) has today through its local subsidiary, Mineral Invest Congo SPRL, after a long period of negotiations with the state owned mining company Office de mines de’Or de Kilo-Moto, OKIMO, acquired an exclusive license agreement regarding gold prospecting in the Kilo-Moto area. This area is located in the north-eastern part of Democratic Republic of Congo of (DRC).
The mining permits for the license area will be allocated to a partnership which will be formed between Mineral Invest and Okimo. “This is a world-class area which in our industry corresponds to several million ounces of gold” says Michael Nilsson, CEO Mineral Invest International MII AB.
Today, Okimo owns an area of 83,000 km2 in the Oriental province in north-eastern DRC whereof 20,000 km2 has been subject to geological survey. The appearance of gold was detected in the beginning of the 20th century and the area is regarded as one of the most promising gold mining areas in the world. The license area comprises 1,440 km2. The entire area has historically been subject to geological survey, and the interest from larger mining companies to acquire licenses has lately been in focus. Amongst these companies can be mentioned RandGold and AngloGold Ashanti. Also, smaller companies such as Mwana Africa operates in the province, where investments are made within the various area where prospecting activities are conducted.
Okimo is one of the largest state owned gold companies being responsible for managing and maintaining the mineral- and energy sector in the country. The company was founded more than 100 years ago having its head office in the capital Kinshasa. Okimo holds the fifth largest gold reserves of 23 million ounces, which corresponds to about 13 percent of the total world reserves.
Pavel Durnev, Chief geologist at Mineral Invest, says” The indicated gold content in the area has been ranging within 10 to 119 g/t and I think it is highly possible that the license area contains several million ounces of gold. A delegation, headed by Willy Bafoa Lifeta, CEO of Okimo, visited Stockholm in July this year, with the purpose to discuss ways and terms for future cooperation.
Willy Bafoa Lifeta comments “- I am looking forward to a fruitful and long lasting cooperation with Mineral Invest”. “This gold license constitutes one of the most significant and interesting events within the Swedish mining sector. This license gives opportunities and challenges in a strongly expanding area. Our local work force is really looking forward to this” says Michael Nilsson, CEO Mineral Invest, continuing “A number of transactions have been conducted in the area. For example, Anglo American Gold acquired during 2009 Moto Gold at a price of around MUSD 545 for a license area directly adjacent to ours. This agreement will require strong financing strategy. We will revert within short on this issue” says Michael Nilsson.
“The license is the result of several years of work. As Mineral Invest’s product portfolio now gets considerably stronger, the organization and strategies will be reviewed and adapted to the new situation. To conform with the agreement we will allocate optimum resources to DRC. We have received a fantastic support from Okimo and their very competent personnel during the negotiations procedure, and we are really looking forward to coming activities in the WANGA area of the Oriental province” concludes Michael Nilsson.
