First Quantum Says $750 Million Kolwezi Project on Congo Faces Liquidation

A Democratic Republic of Congo court appointed a liquidator for First Quantum Minerals Ltd.’s $750 million Kolwezi project, escalating a yearlong dispute between the Canadian mining company and the Congolese government.

An Appeal Court in Kinshasa notified First Quantum on Aug. 2 that the copper and cobalt project “is in the process of being liquidated and appointed a Congolese liquidator,” the Vancouver- based company said in a statement today. First Quantum is “considering all means of recourse,” it said.

“The liquidator will provide a valuation report,” First Quantum spokeswoman Sharon Loung said by phone today from Toronto. “The court will still need to approve the redistribution of assets.”

The Kolwezi project, which is part-owned by the World Bank’s International Finance Corp. and the Industrial Development Corp. of South Africa, was closed in September by the Congolese government after the joint venture allegedly failed to fulfill its contractual requirements.

“Affirmative!” said Congolese Mines Minister Martin Kabwelulu in a mobile-phone text message when asked whether the Kolwezi project would be liquidated. He didn’t comment further.

The dispute is the subject of arbitration before the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris and First Quantum said it is in the process of filing for immediate relief from the Congolese court decision at the ICC tribunal.

New Contract

Highwind Properties Ltd., incorporated in the British Virgin Islands on Sept. 4, has signed a new contract for the Kolwezi concession, according to six people with knowledge of the matter. The company is still awaiting presidential approval of the accord.

While First Quantum has seen the new Highwind contract, it declined to comment on the matter, Loung said.

Eurasian Natural Resources Corp., a Kazakh metal producer that already has mining interests in Congo through Central African Mining and Exploration Co., is also interested in the Kolwezi concession, Chief Executive Officer Felix Vulis said in an interview on June 30.

First Quantum shares fell for the first time this month, dropping C$1.43, or 2.1 percent, to C$65.94 at 12:58 p.m. in Toronto.

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Kavanagh in Kinshasa on mkavanagh9[at]bloomberg.net.

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Two charged in 'horrific' Md. killings

Washington (CNN) -- Two people were charged Saturday in "very disturbing" drug-related killings of two young children and two adult relatives outside Washington D.C.

Darrell Lynn Bellard, 43, of Dickinson, Texas, and Tkeisha Nicole Gilmer, 18, of Texas City, Texas were taken into custody Friday and charged with first-degree murder, police in Prince George's County, Maryland, told CNN. More charges are being considered.

The incident took place Friday at a debris-filled living space in Lanham, Maryland, a crime scene that Police Chief Roberto Hylton described as "horrific."

The victims have been identified Shayla Shante, 3, and Shakur Sylvester Sikyala, 4, both slain along with their mother, Dawn Yvette Brooks, 38, and their aunt, Mwasiti Sikyala, 41. Police said some of the victims may have been Congolese.

Hylton told CNN Saturday that the suspects and the victims were part of a "drug sales relationship and something went wrong." Police said they were selling marijuana.

"They were executed. They were shot multiple times" and the manner in which the children were slaim was "very disturbing," Hylton said.

Hylton specified that Ballard was assisted by Gilmer.

"If any case screams for justice, it is this case. I'm hopeful that justice will be served," he said.

Details about the crime scene emerged Friday.

Police described a living space above a house's garage that had no running water, air-conditioning or toilets, and was strewn with trash and containers of feces.

Officers had been given specialized outfits and equipment to help clear the debris.

"No human being should have been living" there, Hylton said on Friday.

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Congo liquidator takes over First Quantum's Kolwezi Africa

By Katrina Manson

KINSHASA (Reuters) - A court-appointed liquidator said on Friday it has taken over the running of Toronto-listed First Quantum Minerals' Kingamyambo Musonoi Tailings (KMT) copper and cobalt project at Kolwezi in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

On Wednesday, the firm said a Congolese court had initiated proceedings to liquidate the $750 million project, the latest step in a row between the company and the government.

"It's now down to me to organise all the administration (at Kolwezi)," court-appointed liquidator Eric Monga of Trade Service told Reuters on Friday following a visit to the site in Congo's southern copperbelt.

"They went on site today with court sheriffs," a source based in Kolwezi and familiar with the site, which was sealed last September, told Reuters.

Monga, heading the liquidation team, said he has been asked to evaluate the value of the assets and report back to the tribunal as quickly as possible, but did not specify a deadline.

"We want to determine the exact value of the assets in an objective way with the eyes of experts," Monga added.

Congo's appeals court ruled that liquidation proceedings be initiated with a view to selling all the assets in documents seen by Reuters and dated July 29.

Congo's mines minister Martin Kabwelulu confirmed this week he had signed a contract, yet to be given a presidential decree, that hands the site to a company registered in the British Virgin Islands named Highwinds Properties.

First Quantum has initiated international arbitration proceedings at the International Court of Arbitration in Paris.

The dispute began when authorities shut KMT last September after a protracted review flagged contract irregularities and production delays at the site, which has never produced metal on a commercial scale.

© Thomson Reuters 2010 All rights reserved

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Congolese Businesses Complain Over Taxes, Regulations (Update1)

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s main business federation submitted a formal complaint to Prime Minister Adolphe Muzito about the burden that new taxes, regulation and corruption are placing on companies.

In a 20-page document handed to Muzito at a meeting yesterday in Kinshasa, the Federation des Entreprises du Congo said Congo’s fiscal policy imposes a “disproportionate burden” on the mining, transport, manufacturing and banking industries.

Muzito told FEC members that his government wanted a “constructive dialogue” on improving the business climate in the country, according to an e-mailed statement sent by his office after the meeting.

Congo, which holds 4 percent of the world’s copper and 30 percent of all cobalt, is rebuilding its economy after two civil wars between 1996 and 2003 destroyed the country’s infrastructure and claimed the lives of millions. Companies including AngloGold Ashanti Ltd., the world’s third-largest gold producer, and Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., the biggest publicly traded copper miner, have operations in the Central African country.

In March, Muzito called on the government to double its revenue, something the FEC says is being carried out through taxes, some of them illegal, and fees.

“In a context where the informal sector is dominant and corrupt, informal and mafia-like practices are important, a fiscal policy based on increasing fiscal pressure puts a disproportionate burden on the few businesses that operate in the formal sector,” FEC President Albert Yuma said in the document.

Congo’s courts have become a “graveyard for the law,” where corruption and susceptibility to external pressure are undermining confidence in the judiciary, Yuma said.

Congo was ranked second to last among countries in the World Bank’s 2010 guide for ease of doing business.

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael J. Kavanagh in Kinshasa at mkavanagh9[at]bloomberg.net.

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Egypt military court releases blogger in army case (Reuters)

Reuters - A blogger, who had visaged a expeditionary effort for an article grave of Egypt's brachiate forces, has been free without recognizance after apologizing and on information he removes the posting, his attorney said Sunday.

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China says no request yet from Google for talks (AFP)

AFP - China said Sat it had not conventional some letter for talks from Google, as the cyberspace colossus insists it relic concern in its organisation to modify counterintelligence on see results in the communist state.

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PCTEL posts narrower loss in 4th quarter (AP)

AP - PCTEL Inc., a bourgeois of wireless service-related products, reportable that it narrowed its expiration in the ordinal lodge because

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