The Chairman of the Board of Directors of Gécamines Guy-Robert Lukama Nkunzi with the General Manager Placide Nkala and the Deputy General Manager and Scientific Director of BRGM Christophe Poinssot in Paris on 30 April 2024.
© BRGM
As part of the state visit by the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, a framework agreement was signed on 30 April 2024 between BRGM and La Générale des Carrières et des Mines SA (Gécamines SA) by the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Gécamines Guy-Robert Lukama Nkunzi, together with the Managing Director Placide Nkala and the Deputy Managing Director and Scientific Director of BRGM Christophe Poinssot.
An agreement was also announced by Ms Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, Secretary of State for Development and International Partnerships, for French support in developing the National Geoscientific Data Bank (BNDG) of the National Geological Survey of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (SGN-C).
The signing of this agreement reflects the wishes of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the French Republic, through BRGM, to provide a new impetus for bilateral scientific, economic and industrial cooperation in the geoscience field and, in particular, research into and development of minerals and metals for the energy transition.
Agreement with the National Geological Survey of the Democratic Republic of the Congo already signed in 2023
During French President Emmanuel Macron's state visit to Kinshasa on 4 March 2023, in parallel with the signing of a joint energy transition roadmap between the two countries for the production of essential metals for low-carbon technologies, a framework agreement was signed between BRGM and SGN-C to strengthen geoscientific cooperation as the cornerstone of ground and subsurface knowledge.
A project supported by France was launched in 2023 to provide structured management of the DRC's archives at the SGN-C, and today the BNDG project will make all the country's geoscientific information accessible and transparent.
For its part, specifically through BRGM expertise, the framework agreement with Gécamines expresses France's role in helping to develop and make use of the potential of the Congolese subsurface and the tailings from former mining operations, which are rich in metals for the energy transition. It also provides support in terms of training and skills transfer for the organisation and expert knowledge of Congolese geologists working for this state-owned company with its considerable assets.
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