Congo frees most of Chinese men held for illegal mining
The Chinese miners allegedly owed $10 million in unpaid taxes and fines to the government.
Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (LON:ENRC), the London-listed giant miner that has been wrestling with a series of accusations of corruption, has suspended one of its managers in Africa over fresh whistleblowing allegations.
In a statement the company announced its manager in Mozambique, where the firm has several coal assets, has been suspended pending results of an internal investigation.
The move adds to the turmoil within the mining company, which has been in talks with the Serious Fraud Office since 2011 over a series of problems within its Kazakh operations, as well as a subsequent internal inquiry into the company’s business in Africa.
The latest suspension follows the departure of Alex Gaft, an ENRC corporate investigator who left the company in early April and the sudden departure of chief commercial officer Jim Cochrane last week.
ENRC’s share price has slumped by almost 80% over the past three years.
In March ENRC was forced to write down a $1.5bn (£1bn) loss due mainly to an “onerous” locked in contract with the Russian aluminum company, Rusal, with whom they must provide aluminum at what is now below market price.
(Mozambican soccer player shown the yellow card. Courtesy of SoccerLaduma)
