Acerca de

UAE investment fund Averi Finance, founded by a former Gemcorp executive, has acquired gold and diamond licences in DR Congo's Tshopo province and wants to set up a gold refinery there.
Dubai-based Averi Finance is preparing to move mining exploration machinery it owns in Angola to the Kisangani area of Tshopo province in northeastern DRC. Averi Finance, which is an investment fund, consultancy, and operator of its own projects, acquired two licences there in the second quarter of this year. One is for gold and the other for diamonds.
The company is using a team that has previously worked on alluvial diamond projects in Angola and intends to move forward quickly with the exploration of the two sites. lt registered a subsidiary in the DRC in early November and has appointed Kisangani-barn Olivier Lokolomba Abrahamson as its manager. One obvious market for the export of stones is Dubai, which hosts the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), one of the world's most important mining exchanges, especially for gold and African diamonds, and where there are several refineries.
But Averi says it has ambitions to build such a unit in Tshopo itself. The company plans to set up a gold refinery there. This is in line with DRC government strategy. Mines minister Antoinette N'Samba Kalambayi is pushing plans to have minerals processed on Congolese territory. Refineries are, however, major investments that require a lot of electricity, which the DRC lacks. Averi has signed a memorandum of understanding with the energy ministry to set up a 50 MW solar park to provide energy for the area where it is carrying out its projects. The company will have to raise funds for both projects.
By launching its project in the DRC, Averi is putting its ambitions in Angolan mining on hold but is not abandoning the country. The company was co-founded by the Portuguese national Gaspar Lino, ex-Africa director of the Londonbased investment fund Gemcorp, which is very active in Angola (AI, 24/03/21). It is now targeting the country’s pharmaceutical sector.
Via Africa Intelligence