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Eurasian Natural Resources Corp faced calls for greater transparency over its dealings in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and particularly with mining investor Dan Gertler, from campaign group Global Witness ahead of its annual general meeting on Tuesday June 12.
Between September 2009 and July 2011, according to Global Witness, ENRC picked up more than $2 billion worth of copper and cobalt mines in the DRC.
Global Witness, which has previously asked questions about the dealings of Glencore and Gertler in the DRC, urged the Kazakhstan-based diversified miner to "address publicly concerns over corruption risks associated with its rapid acquisition of mining assets in the Democratic Republic of Congo" in a statement issued on Monday June 11.
The pressure group listed the following deals in its statement: ENRC's acquisition of a stake in the SMKK copper and cobalt mine; its acquisition of a stake in the Kolwezi tailings project; its acquisition of the Comisa SPRL and Frontier SPRL companies formerly held by First Quantum; its acquisition of Dezita Investments Ltd; and its acquisition of Camec.
The campaign group claims that all of these deals were conducted in "apparent collusion" with Israeli businessman Gertler, a friend of Joseph Kabila, president of the DRC.
Gertler did not respond directly to questions that Global Witness also put to him about the deals.
His spokesman said in a statement: "While we have not had sight of the report to be published...