Report on Community Development Funds and Agreements in Guinea Under the New Mining Code

Guinea’s 2011 Mining Code introduced a large number of reforms directed to increasing transparency and the contribution of the mining sector to development, including requirements for the establishment of a local development fund and for community development agreements between mining companies and local communities. As part of the legal and fiscal analysis of the gold mining investments in Guinea, CCSI examined how these provisions could be implemented effectively. CCSI produced a report (en français) that makes recommendations as to how the Government, mining companies, civil society and communities can work together to maximize the benefits of local development funding in the Guinean context. The report analyzes the legal framework that has been in place in Guinea to date, focusing in particular on the experiences of the stakeholders around the Société AngloGold Ashanti de Guinée mine in Siguiri, assesses the improvements and remaining weaknesses in the draft regulations (as compared to the previous legal framework) and provides a comparative analysis of models and good practices of community development agreements and local development funds globally.

The report provides recommendations on:
• The definition of multi-stakeholder revenue management bodies
• The definition of the local communities that are to benefit from community funding
• The allocation of mining revenue among communities affected by or around the mine
• Revenue management and volatility
• The selection of development projects under the local development fund
• Management of projects funded by the local development fund
• The process for entering into community development agreements
• Institutional arrangements to implement the requirements of the community development agreements