For Non-Payment of Surface Rights, Geocore and Regal Maniema Pay the Price

November 2025

The Congolese mining sector is tightening further with the application of legal obligations. It is no longer a secret that on 7 November 2025, the Minister of Mines, Mr Louis Watum Kabamba, proceeded with the withdrawal of seven mining titles belonging to various mining companies for non-payment of annual surface rights, one of the key requirements of the Congolese Mining Code.

On 3 November 2025, the Mining Cadastre (CAMI) published a list of miners concerned by this measure on which the company Geocore appeared; it was stripped of two mining titles. Formerly, it held a title with its five permits since 2021 in the territories of Nyunzu and Kongolo, Tanganyika province, where research operations for gold, cassiterite, coltan and wolframite were carried out.

The company Regal Maniema for its part also attracted attention for its research permit no. 3279, which had already been threatened with forfeiture in 2021 for the same reasons. This company also appeared on the old list of non-payment of rights relating to the 2019 financial year.

The most informed mining operators know that the payment of surface rights represents the second essential condition for the validity of a mining title, just after proof of the effective start of research or exploration works.

These rights, payable each year, are calculated according to the surface area of the perimeter concerned and the duration of validity of the permit, their amount varying between 0.03 and 1.14 American dollars per hectare, paid in Congolese francs according to the daily exchange rate set by the Congolese Central Bank.

It should be noted that by these forfeitures of mining titles, the Minister of Mines intends to remind operators of their legal responsibility and to encourage them towards more transparent and equitable mining governance beneficial to the Congolese people.

By Jeef Kazadi and Stephane Mpidisi