Guinean minister of economy, finance and planning, Ousmane Dore has disclosed that the country will invest US$36 billion in the next three years in the mining sector.
“The Guinean mining sector arouses total interest among our partners who have expressed their will to devote about US$36 billion to investments in the next three years,” he told a press conference in Paris Tuesday.
Saying that the previous mining agreements have been signed in total impenetrability, Dore assured that the Guinean government will impose the “all-winner” principle on the investors interested in the country’s mining resources.
“Mining exploration licenses for 500 square kilometres have been sold at US$300 to multinationals. That is a real scandal, which explains the Guinean paradox: a country endowed with huge mineral resources and having an extremely poor population,” he noted.
“We need to sit down around a table in order to examine calmly with all mining companies the agreements signed by the previous governments,” Dore stressed.
He insists that the tax system applied to the mining companies in Guinea must comply with international standards like in South Africa, Zambia and other African states.
“As any responsible government, that of Guinea intends to ensure the defence of the national interest in its relations with the mining companies. That has not been the case so far. We will remedy it through bilateral discussions with the mining companies,” the minister insisted, assuring that a statement will be made on the issue “at the appropriate time”.
First African bauxite exporter, Guinea intends to begin work in the next months on its oil reserves discovered off the Golf of Guinea.
