The Republic of Congo (ROC) is situated on the western edge of the African Continent
and borders the countries of Angola (Cabina Province), The Democratic Republic of
the Congo, The Central African Republic and Gabon. It has a total land area of 342,000
km2 and a population of approximately 4.0 million people of which 45.9% are less
than 14 years of age and an estimated 83% are literate (CIA World Fact Book).
The ROC was a former French colony which was granted independence in 1960. From 1960 to 1990 the country was effectively Marxist led though a democratically elected government took office in 1992. Although some political strife did occur in the mid 1990's, a peace accord was sigend in 2003 between opposing parties and the country has been peaceful ever since.
Oil is the predominant export of the ROC with oil production expected to be in the region of 300,000 bpd in 2009 which will increase to 360,000 bpd in 2010 with the development of the Moho Bilondo field. Oil accounts for 70% of the ROC’s GDP (USD 9.1 billion), 81% of its fiscal revenues and 91% of its total exports. The ROC government wants to diversify away from reliance of oil and has recently agreed to investments of USD 3.0 billion by ENI (Italian Petroleum Company) in biofuels and USD 1.2 billion by Mag Industries (MAA -TSX-V) to develop the 600,000 tpa Kouilou Potash Mine.
Figure 1 Location of Sintoukola Potash License
The ROC was a former French colony which was granted independence in 1960. From 1960 to 1990 the country was effectively Marxist led though a democratically elected government took office in 1992. Although some political strife did occur in the mid 1990's, a peace accord was sigend in 2003 between opposing parties and the country has been peaceful ever since.
Oil is the predominant export of the ROC with oil production expected to be in the region of 300,000 bpd in 2009 which will increase to 360,000 bpd in 2010 with the development of the Moho Bilondo field. Oil accounts for 70% of the ROC’s GDP (USD 9.1 billion), 81% of its fiscal revenues and 91% of its total exports. The ROC government wants to diversify away from reliance of oil and has recently agreed to investments of USD 3.0 billion by ENI (Italian Petroleum Company) in biofuels and USD 1.2 billion by Mag Industries (MAA -TSX-V) to develop the 600,000 tpa Kouilou Potash Mine.
Figure 1 Location of Sintoukola Potash License
