MIGA issued $13.6 million in guarantees, covering an investment and loans by Anvil Mining Ltd. of Canada and RMB International (Dublin) Limited of Ireland to Anvil Mining Congo, SARL, of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) against the risks of transfer restriction, expropriation, breach of contract, war and civil disturbance. Half of the guarantee amount will be covered by a Lloyd’s of London insurer through MIGA’s Cooperative Underwriting Program.
The project involves open pit mining of copper and silver ores to produce a concentrate, which will then be trucked to smelters in South Africa and Namibia for further processing. This is the first extractive industries project to be considered and approved by the Board of the World Bank Group since conclusion of the Bank-sponsored Extractive Industries Review in August 2004. The guarantee also marks MIGA’s first guarantee for a project in the DRC, which became a member of the agency in 2003.
In coordination with MIGA, Anvil has established a profit-sharing mechanism to ensure that local communities will benefit from the development of the Dikulushi deposit. The company has pledged 10 percent of its interest in the mine to a trust structure. Dividends will fund a community development program administered by a local nongovernmental organization (NGO). The community development program, which is expected to receive $5 to $7 million in funds over the next five or six years, includes investments in education, health care, and micro-enterprise and infrastructure development. Anvil has already begun implementation of a number of the community projects.
The project is also spurring infrastructure improvements, including the construction and maintenance of a 54 km road, port facilities, a water pipeline to Dikulushi village, and additional water tanks and wells in other villages. This greenfield investment employs about 615 people. Before establishment of the mine, per capita income in the region was less than $.50 per day, derived almost exclusively from subsistence farming and fishing. Dikulushi miners are paid at levels in line with miners throughout the DRC Copperbelt.
The project meets a number of MIGA’s priorities: it supports an investment in a frontier and conflict-affected sub-Saharan country.
