WikiLeaks releases a collection of documents that open up a corrupt multi-billion dollar war by Western and Chinese companies grab uranium and other mining rights in the Central African Republic (CAR) and escape paying for the environmental consequences. Among the hundreds of pages in this publication are detailed maps of mining rights, mining contracts with illegal kickbacks and secret investigative reports. The documents have been long sought by fraud investigators. In December 2015 a case was filed against Areva, alleging corruption related to the €1.8 billion purchase of three uranium mines in 2007.
Effective oversight process by the local authorities is subverted either by duping state officials with deceiving front companies, such as the UN registered World Sports Alliance (WSA), now recycled into a cover for mining companies, or by corrupting them through the payment of ‘cash bonuses’. After a profitable exploitation of resources, companies such as Areva – a French multinational group specialising in nuclear power – abandon the country, leaving behind nuclear contamination without having launched any of the promised investments.
The mining sector in Central African Republic: an overall view
These documents provide a 360 degrees view on the mining sector and its relationships with one of the poorest countries in the world, Central African Republic, showing the numerous schemes put in place to avoid legal, impositive, social and environmental obligations by the mining companies and the growing difficulties of the states to implement their decisions.
Geologic mapping of the Nola Mbaiki region
View: JPG version
Draft engagement letter for the attribution of mining permits
View: PDF version
Renewal decree of Mossoro permit
View: PDF version
Oil resources repartition
View: PDF version
Pangea Diamondfields technical report
View: PDF version
1995 Tectonic mapping of CAR
View: JPG version
Creation of Diamond database
View: PDF version
CAR and the Kimberley Process
View: PDF version
Final report on the intervening structures in the mining industry of CAR
View: PDF version
Final report on mining resources in CAR
View: PDF version
CAR Presidential decree on the administration of Indian credits
View: PDF version
1998 report on Diamond exploitation in CAR
View: PDF version
CAR Presidential decree attributing a permit to Clima Dubai
View: PDF version
Draft convention between the Central African Republic and Clima Dubai MW International
View: PDF version
GETRAD report
View: PDF version
Mandate to Elie Dote
View: PDF version
Panorama on the mineral resources of the Central African Republic
View: PDF version
2013 mining activities summary
View: PDF version
Memo on the pillaging of Central African Republic mining administration
View: PDF version
2014 Central African Republic oil prospection and mining activities – detailed presentation
View: PDF version
Conditions to obtain a mining permit in Central African Republic
View: PDF version
Yearly report of CAR’s Mining General Directorate – 2012
View: PDF version
Standard mining convention
View: PDF version
Central African Republic – World Sports Alliance Headquarters Agreement
View: PDF version
AREVA and URAMIN scandal
The most powerful nuclear company in the world, AREVA, abandoned its Central African Republic exploitation without having launched any of the promised investments after an enormous political and financial scandal, amidst a social and environmental crisis, with skyrocketing radioactivity levels (up to 30 times the natural radioactivity in the zone) and literally transporting its former employees back to their homes like cattle. The following documents show the constant disdain of the company towards Central African Republic institutions and its population, and the neocolonial conditions of exploitation of its mines in Africa.
1971 CAR resources cartography
View: JPG version
Technical note on Bakouma’s uranium mine
View: PDF version
Activity report on Bakouma’s mine and AREVA
View: PDF version
Minutes of a CAR-AREVA meeting
View: PDF version
URAMIN takeover bid summary
View: PDF version
The World Sports Alliance (WSA): how the UN was indirectly implicated in a mining corruption scheme
These documents show the schemes used by a fake international organisation supported by the UN and numerous states in order to corrupt local elites and steal the natural resources of impoverished states and their populations.
WSA-CAR agreement on biofertilisers
View: PDF version
Electricity agreement between CAR State and WSA
View: PDF version
Framework convention between WSA and the Central African Republic Ministry for Foreign Affairs
View: PDF version
Framework convention between the World Sports Alliance and the Central African Republic
View: PDF version
WSA-CAR agreement on infrastructure constructions
View: PDF version
CAR President permit for mining exploration
View: PDF version
Ministerial note on the WSA-CAR agreements
View: PDF version
CAR state purchase guarantee
View: PDF version
WSA intermediation agreement
View: PDF version
WSA note on the WSA-CAR agreement
View: PDF version
2013 CAR Presidential Permit given to WSA 1
View:PDF version
2013 CAR Presidential Permit given to WSA 2
View: PDF version
2013 CAR Presidential Permit given to WSA 3
View: PDF version
2013 CAR Presidential Permit given to WSA 4
View: PDF version
A state-company mining convention. What does it look like?
A look into typical conventions between states and mining companies, the legal obligations arising from exploitation and research permits, the theoretical frame that limits the activities of non-state actors and the reality of their implementation, most often reduced to nothing.
Convention with the UNICON Resources company
View: PDF version
Convention agreement between CAR state and TSA company
View: PDF version
Note on the convention agreement between CAR state and TSA company
View: PDF version
PTI, or how the main Chinese state-owned defence company tried to enter into Central Africa
These documents show how the main Chinese state-owned defence company, specialising in missiles and tank production, tried to invest in Central Africa, probably within the framework of a hidden weapons agreement thought to feed the Central African Republic civil war in spite of global sanctions.
Oil contract between the Central African Republic and Chinese company PTI-IAS
View: PDF version
2015 note on PTI-IAS and PTI-IAL oil contracts follow-up
View: PDF version
Central African Republic note on Chinese state-owned defence partner
View: PDF version
Dig Oil in Central Africa: the adventures of a junior mining company
These documents show the typical path of a junior mining company in an impoverished state in order to grab most of its resources as soon as possible and resell the permits immediately thereafter.
Oil contract between the Central African Republic and South African company DIG OIL
View: PDF version
Note on the DIG Oil-CAR relationship
View: PDF version
Limestone, the unexploited resource of the Central African Republic
These documents shed light on the incapacity of the Central African Republic government to exploit one of its lesser-known resources, limestone, the potential of which has been known for decades.
Limestone resources in Central Africa
View: PDF version
2012 Presidential decree on limestone exploitation
View: PDF version
2012 Presidential decree on limestone research
View: PDF version
Limestone artisanal exploitation project
View: PDF version
Corruption and legal violations in the Central African Republic mining sector: international list of companies responsible
This list shows in a very efficient way which companies intervene in the mining sector in CAR and how most of them violate their obligations toward the state, having corrupted its officials through “bonuses”, paid most of the time in cash.
Summary of bonus payments
View: PDF version
