04/03/2011 at 14h: 00 By Christophe Le Bec
Absent exhibition Mining Indaba in South Africa, Chinese firms are reluctant to exploit the deposits themselves and disappoint juniors seeking capital . Or when the idyll "chinafricaine" turns to disenchantment.
absentees they always wrong? At Mining Indaba, the largest exhibition of African mining sector, about 4,500 officers, according to organizers, were given appointments 7 to 10 February in Cape Town. But while China's insatiable appetite for raw materials from the continent is more a secret that the big meeting ("indaba" in Zulu) does not have a single Chinese investor. The few Asians present were Indian and Japanese.
Absent physically, the Chinese are no less in any conversation. "They make a deafening silence here," jokes, an old frequenter of the lounge, a French geologist of the Bureau of Geological and Mining Research (BRGM). "In fact, they are there without being there. They are not at ease in such meetings, they prefer intergovernmental negotiations. That said, they have delegated to them by Africans relate information "Says Aziz Sy, Vice-President Oromin Senegal.
majors operating in Africa, like Australia or Rio Tinto Swiss Xstrata, rub their hands by referring to the "greed" of iron, copper, nickel and zinc in the industrial world's second largest economy. South African specialists Randgold Resources and AngloGold Ashanti marvel at the boom in consumption of precious metals, jewelry for the wealthy or the gold reserves of Chinese banks. Junior evoke patterns, bright eyes, the opportunity to partner with them to achieve the infrastructure they lack.
A shared enthusiasm among Sinophiles: Niall Ferguson, a Harvard professor, presents "Chinafrica" as an idyllic marriage between a country hungry for minerals - and has a well stocked cash - and a continent teeming with untapped deposits, either 30% of the world's known reserves of ore, only 10% of current world production.
time of disillusionment
But now, the "Chinafrica Mine" is attractive on paper, certainly, but in fact the alliance is struggling to take shape. Past two years, Chinese investments in the basement Africa have increased (over 7.4 billion euros in 2010), but it's more of minority holdings in deposits of iron or copper that the translation of a real commitment to implementation. Besides, most Chinese companies are active on the continent of steelmakers - such as Wuhan Iron and Steel Company (WISCO) - eager to secure their supply of iron to make steel at home, or construction companies - as China Railway Group (CRG) - that carry roads or railways.
And in those rare cases where the Chinese themselves operate a pool, they arouse strong reactions. In Zambia, the copper mines operated by China Nonferrous Metal Mining Company (CNMC) undergo repeated strikes because of poor working conditions (50 workers died in an explosion in 2005). So much so that President Hu Jintao has preferred to avoid the site during his visit to the country in 2007. In Gabon in late 2009, NGOs have urged the government to renegotiate the China Machinery & Equipment Company (CMEC) on the iron deposit Belinga, which provided a road map of the heart a national park.
Moreover, China has more popular with mine. The junior exploration, hoping to receive support capital-to uncover new deposits, disillusioned: "I lost too much time with the Chinese," Fever Michael Hopley, President and CEO of Sunridge Gold, now in Eritrea and Madagascar. "Their decision time is too slow, while a small company like mine needs to quickly seize opportunities," lamented the Australian.
"The Chinese do not want to take any chances. Their concern is not to manage a mine, but get guaranteed access to 100% of the ore cheap, "says Hugo Schumann, director of development of Equatorial Resources, which explores the iron deposits Badondo, Congo. This Australian was considering partnering with a Chinese buyer. He now prefers to forge an agreement with a major "more experienced and ready to take more risks."
The Chinese do not always prove very reliable either. "Once an agreement is forged, even should he succeed in making them keep their commitments, which is not easy," said Hugo Schumann, given the difficulties encountered for eight months by rival African Minerals to finalize investment Shandong Iron and Steel Group to Tonkolili, Sierra Leone (1.3 billion euros).
Another disappointment: the establishment of joint ventures in the hope of raising capital on the stock market. "Most mining companies are listed in Toronto, Sydney or London. Now it is much easier to raise capital in joint venture with Rio Tinto or BHP Billiton, well known to investors present there, with a Chinese partner, considered more risky, "says Lance Hooper, vice president of Kilo Goldmines , a company active in DR Congo. On the other hand, even acknowledged the "clear improvement of roads" through the work done by the Chinese as part of the mega-agreement "Mines cons infrastructure" between MAF and Sinohydro Gecamines, dubbed the "Contract of the Century" with 6.7 billion euros of investments announced.
This is not an abandonment
The Chinese will just do they always eat the African ore and build infrastructure without actually manage mine? Deborah Bräutigam, American academic expert on strategies for the Middle Kingdom in Africa "Chinese companies are inexperienced and are aware of. If they made mistakes on the continent in the late 1990s when they began their activities there, their strategy has evolved today. They now prefer to forge agreements with Western companies, rather than risk alone. They are also more cautious in politically unstable countries: witness the suspension of talks between China and Zimbabwe in 2010. But it is far from abandoning the basement Africa by China! "
Indeed, the disenchantment with the Chinese miners is not total. Of medium-sized companies still believe in an alliance with them: "In the iron, the three majors that occupy 70% of the market, Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Vale do they never let the control of deposits, because they want to keep as dependent clients. With us, however, they can take a majority stake and break the oligopoly, "said Frank Timis, Chairman of African Minerals. For Masa
Sugano, Economic Secretary of the Embassy of Japan in Pretoria, "the mining groups Anglo-Saxon, which dominate the sector, would do well not to underestimate the learning ability of Chinese. At Like Japan in the 1970s, who built the steel and mining companies performing in ten years [as JOGMEC, Ed], we shall see in the next five years the emergence of powerful Chinese mining in Africa, "says he said. These future giants could build on the assets of African public mining companies in difficulty, such as Gecamines in DR Congo. But it will take a little longer.
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By Christophe Le Bec, Special Envoy in Cape
