Rebels will ‘ revise ’ contracts with foreign companies

THE Seleka rebel leader, Michel Djotodia, announced on Friday that he planned to revise mining contracts signed with South African and Chinese companies.

The Sunday Times has learnt that this is likely to focus on deals to carve up massive oil blocks straddling the Central African Republic’s northern border with Chad, with estimated reserves in the CAR alone worth more than $100-billion.

“A number of attempts were made by various business parties to secure rights and were done in a manner that was not entirely correct,” said an industry source with direct knowledge of re- sources deals in the CAR who did not want to be named. “There is huge competition for those blocks.”

Companies whose contracts are likely to be reviewed include the China National Petroleum Corporation, China Poly Group, South Africa’s DIG Oil and Axmin, a Canadian mining company with South African ties.

China Poly Group is a stateowned arms and oil firm that was awarded a large oil concession near the Chad border in dubious circumstances in 2007.

DIG Oil, headed by South African Andrea Brown, who has links to the politically connected Moseneke family, was awarded prospecting rights to a much smaller reserve in the south in 2011, but it is understood that the company was also eyeing the northern blocks.

Axmin, which has spent $95million on gold exploration in the CAR in the past decade, closed its prospecting camp near the southern town of Bambari after it was overrun by Seleka rebels in December.

Its South African-born chief executive, George Roach, “categorically rejects” any suggestion that he could pull strings with the South African government to get South African troops to protect his mining operation.

“Absolutely not. Axmin is a Canadian company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, with no significant South African ownership,” he said yesterday.

“There is not a single South African minister, director-general or official whom I know.”

Its only links to South Africa were a $100-million loan from Standard Bank to part-fund $300million in capital costs and a South African engineering company appointed to build the mine.

He was not aware of any decision to review mining deals and had “no concerns” that Axmin’s “legally binding contractual arrangements with the CAR” would not be honoured.

Roach said he was “completely confident” the region would stabilise soon, and that operations would resume once security had improved.

“I’m ready to go back to Bangui at any time.”