TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – The mining industry operating within the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is concerned about last week's decision taken by the Mines Ministry to shun further talks regarding the country’s proposed new mining code and to refer it instead to Parliament in its draft form.

The DRC Chamber of Mines on Monday warned that the ministry's actions could undermine international investment in the impoverished Central African country and “posed a material threat to further investment”.

Despite being one of the least developed countries in the world, the DRC managed to improve both its score and rank notably in the latest Fraser Institute ‘Survey of Mining Companies: 2013’ from 93/96 in 2012/2013 to eighty-fifth out of 112 jurisdictions. However, with increased legislative uncertainty, the DRC could slip back into the ten worst countries regarding policy perception.

“We have been working together on this since 2013 and it is the industry’s view that significant progress has been made, with only the royalty and stability issues still outstanding. We were, therefore, surprised and disturbed to be informed last week that the government had unilaterally suspended these consultations and was proceeding with draft legislation that we have not even seen in its complete form,” the chamber said.

It added that the only way to convert the DRC’s mineral wealth into real and lasting value for the country and its entire people was to draw new investment to the mining industry.

“That, in turn, requires an equitable mining code which fully recognises the rights of the mining companies and their investors. Investment dollars are mobile and will quickly leave a mining jurisdiction if the legislative environment deteriorates, as Zambia found out not so long ago,” the chamber said.

It noted that a ‘one-size-fits-all’ code was not suited to the DRC because of significant capital and exploration framework differences between the various sectors of the country’s mining industry.

“An optimal code must take these differences into account, hence the need for further detailed and in-depth discussions with the industry as well as the major companies in each sector,” the chamber advised.

Canadian-domiciled mining companies had the highest presence among foreign mining companies in the DRC and included the likes of Banro Resources, First Quantum Minerals, Lundin Mining and Katanga Mining. Other multinationals comprised BHP Billiton, AngloGold Ashanti, Randgold Resources and Freeport-McMoRan.