Under the Agreement:
- GTL transfers full ownership of the plant to GÉCAMINES
- GTL commits to repair the oven of the factory
- FORREST GROUP entities transfer to GÉCAMINES their shares in the CONGOLESE SOCIETY FOR THE TREATMENT OF LUBUMBASHI SAS TERRIL
- GÉCAMINES transfers to the FORREST GROUP its shares in GTL
- GÉCAMINES pays compensation to GTL
GÉCAMINES and the FORREST GROUP welcome the conclusion of this Agreement.
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Albert Yuma, the irremovable patron of the General Careers and Mines (Gécamines) and Georges Fourrest, boss of the group of the same name, have buried the hatchet. Already confirmed by the Belgian justice system, which had declared itself incompetent, Gecamines has never wavered in this conflict which concerns the Groupement du Terril de Lubumbashi, which it holds for 30% against 70% for partner Fourrest.
The crisis erupted in March 2017 when Gécamines decided to prevent GTL trucks from accessing slag heap, arguing that the company had largely exceeded its quota of 75,000 tonnes set in 1997. For its part, the group Forrest stop the meter at only 64,000 tons extracted and, better still, put forward an amendment granting it the right to mine the minerals until exhaustion.
With the final conclusion of a transactional agreement, putting an end to their dispute over the commercial exploitation of Terril Lubumbashi, the capital of the province of Upper Katanga, in the south-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (RDC), the two partners open a new page.
Under the agreement announced Wednesday, GTL transfers “full ownership” of the processing plant to Gécamines, GTL undertakes to repair the furnace of the plant, the Forrest Group entities transfer to Gécamines their shares in the Congolese company for the treatment of the slag of Lubumbashi SAS and Gécamines transfers to Groupe Forrest its shares in GTL, while paying a “compensatory allowance” to GTL, specified the two companies in a brief communique.