Copper and cobalt miner Central African Mining and Exploration Company (Camec) has inked an agreement to form a joint venture (JV) company with Israeli diamond trader Dan Gertler housing its Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) assets, it said on Wednesday.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) stipulated that Camec would transfer its 80% ownership of Boss Mining and the Luita plant into the JV, while Gertler's Prairie International would contribute its indirect 80% stake in Savannah Mining, which, in turn, owned half of the Mukondo mine.

Boss owned the other 50% of Mukondo, which was touted to be the richest cobalt mine in the world.

The new JV company would seek a listing on the LSE or TSX "as soon as is reasonably practicable".

Speculation on Wednesday was that Camec entered into the JV to distance itself from controversial businessman Billy Rautenbach, who had been declared persona non grata in the DRC.

An analyst said that this would make sense.

"They certainly would have liked to see him excluded from the JV," he said. "I don't think anyone would be too keen on having Billy, with his persona nongrata status, involved as a major stakeholder, so it would make sense."

The MoU's proposed JV was subject to approval from State-owned Gecamines, which also had a stake in Boss, as well as Camec's shareholders.

More DRC consolidation to come

The analyst said that Katanga Mining and Nikanor's merger announced on Tuesday, and now the Camec-Gertler deal, were only the beginning of consolidation of the DRC's copper/cobalt mining sectors.

Interestingly, Gertler was a founding shareholder of LSE-listed Nikanor.

"We've seen some consolidation in the DRC, and I think that the consolidation process is not nearly over," he stated over the telephone.

"The big boys have been shut out, there was talk that Rio Tinto was looking at Katanga Mining, and now they might have to look elsewhere."

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