Tremalt

Tremalt Limited

Company type	Private
Industry	Mining
Founded	2001
Defunct	2006
Headquarters	British Virgin Islands
Area served	Democratic Republic of the Congo
Key people	John Bredenkamp (former owner), Dan Gertler (owner from 2006)
Products	Copper, cobalt

Tremalt Limited was a mining enterprise registered in the British Virgin Islands that held mineral interests within the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The company became notable for a contentious 2001 transaction, acquiring copper assets at prices significantly below their appraised worth, accompanied by a confidential arrangement to allocate profits between the DRC and Zimbabwe governments. Some of these transactions reportedly included transfers of military hardware. Tremalt's capital expenditures on its holdings were minimal, leading to several assets being reclaimed by the DRC authorities. In 2006, the company changed hands for roughly $60 million.

KMC acquisition, 2001

The Kababancola Mining Company (KMC) was established in January 2001 as a joint venture focused on copper and cobalt extraction, with a contract duration of 25 years. Tremalt, originally under the control of John Bredenkamp, possessed an 80% stake in KMC, while Gecamines retained 20%. Ownership of Tremalt was obscured through a network of private holding entities and trusts registered in both the Isle of Man and the British Virgin Islands. Through KMC, rights were obtained over mining operations, processing facilities, and concentrators located at Kambove and Kakanda.

Investment from KMC was limited; it maintained activity only at the Kamoya Mine without advancing development at other sites. In March 2002, following disputes between KMC and Gecamines resolved at the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes, Congolese authorities took back control of the Kambove concentrator from Tremalt. By late 2003, KMC disclosed cumulative losses exceeding USD 11 million over its initial three years.

United Nations investigation, 2002

The Final report of the Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo was released by the United Nations in October 2002. This document identified Brigadier General Sibusiso Busi Moyo and Air Commodore Mike Tichafa Karakadzai as principal facilitators behind the KMC agreement with Tremalt. The deal involved Tremalt paying $400,000 to acquire rights to six Gecamines concessions containing an estimated 2.7 million tons of copper and 325,000 tons of cobalt, assets valued at more than $1 billion. Profit distribution was structured as 32% to Tremalt, with both the DRC government and Zimbabwe each receiving 34%, while Tremalt provided military vehicles and cash payments instead of direct profit shares.

Subsequent history

The UK-based NGO Rights and Accountability in Development initiated legal action against Tremalt over unlawful resource exploitation; however, this was blocked by the UK National Contact Point for the OECD on grounds that issues had been addressed by the UN panel. Consequently, RAID withdrew its complaint in June 2004.

In 2006, John Bredenkamp sold Tremalt for about $60 million to Israeli-American entrepreneur Dan Gertler. By 2007, ownership had transferred to Prairie International Ltd, predominantly controlled by Gertler’s family trust. Tremalt held an 80% interest in Savannah Mining, which owned concessions C17 and C18 in Katanga Province, as well as a 50% share in the Mukondo project; BOSS Mining owned the remaining Mukondo interest and was itself 80% owned by Central African Mining & Exploration Company (CAMEC).

There were strategic intentions to merge Mukondo assets into a new corporate entity that would exclude Zimbabwean businessman Billy Rautenbach, founder of BOSS and part-owner of CAMEC, due to his adversarial relationship with the DRC government. A memorandum of understanding to conclude this arrangement was signed between CAMEC and Prairie International in November 2007.