London, Jan.29: The world’s largest mining companies have reportedly approached the UN and the World Bank to prevent China from freezing them out of Africa.

According to a timesonline report, heads of over a dozen mining companies representing assets of more than 700 billion dollars met clandestinely at the Hotel Fluela in Davos ,Switzerland, in a six-hour session, and covered all major issues relating to the mining industry.

Dubbed the “Governors”, the participants are reported to have dwelled on the competition posed by state-owned Chinese companies in Africa. Africa has vast mineral resources that are largely untapped and, with metal prices at record highs, companies are rushing to grab the best assets. Beijing is particularly keen to sign deals with African nations because its booming economy needs access to raw materials such as copper, nickel and zinc.

Western mining companies are struggling to compete when negotiating deals because the Chinese are reportedly offering huge incentives to African nations, such as building dams, football stadiums, roads, railways and power stations, besides offering telecom equipment at discounted rates.

Among those present were Paul Skinner, the chairman of Rio Tinto, Tony Trahar, chief executive of Anglo American, Jonathan Oppenheimer, chairman of De Beers, Alexei Mordashov, chairman of SeverStal, and Wayne Murdy, chairman and chief executive of Newmont Mining.

The World Bank estimates that China last year spent over 10 billion dollars on infrastructure projects in Africa, including motorways in Nigeria, a telephone network in Ghana and an aluminum smelter in Egypt.

China is also putting significant efforts into its diplomatic relations in Africa. Chinese President Hu Jintao is to start a ten-African country tour tomorrow.

Last year, 48 African leaders, including Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe, went to Beijing to discuss business partnerships and received five billion dollars in development loans.

The ‘mining governors’ are planning to ask the UN to mandate that countries must sign deals that require participants to meet high environmental and safety standards. Chinese miners have a poor reputation in these areas and one chief executive who was at the governors’ meeting said that Africa was being “raped and pillaged” by China.

This charge has been leveled at Western mining companies for years. However, environmental legislation and lawsuits have forced Western companies to raise their game and now they want China to play by the same rules.

Another strategy developed by the governors was to contact the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), which invests in projects in developing nations. Partnering the IFC would let Western miners offer the same sort of incentive-laden deals as China.

The governors also want to work with environmental groups and organizations such as Oxfam to encourage African leaders to demand more guarantees from China. (ANI)