Buenassa is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Simon Tuma-Waku with immediate effect as Special Advisor to CEO Eddy Kioni, focused on the development of mining and mineral processing projects. With a career spanning more than 30 years in the mining sector, Mr. Tuma-Waku brings considerable experience and expertise to his new role.

Among his career highlights, Mr. Tuma-Waku joined the JCI Group in South Africa in 1992, where he was seconded to the platinum division prior to its integration into Anglo-American Platinum. After a successful spell with Bateman Equipment (1997-2001), he returned to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to head the national Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons until 2003. That prestigious cabinet position helped him to gain extensive experience in mining policy development and stakeholder engagement with government, business and civil society. He played a key role in the development and implementation of the mining code and regulations adopted in 2002 to attract investors and secure fiscal
and parafiscal revenues for the DRC Government. He then spent several years as a member of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Chamber of Mines of the Fédération des Enterprises du Congo (FEC).

At the end of 2003, Mr. Tuma-Waku returned to the private sector and held key positions such as Executive Chairman of Kamoto Copper Company (a subsidiary of Glencore), Deputy Managing Director of Tenke Fungurume Mining as representative of GECAMINES (a subsidiary of the CMOC group and one of the world’s top three cobalt producers) and Deputy Managing Director of Ruashi Mining (a subsidiary of METOREX).

Parallelly, he was involved in the financial services sector as a board member of the Congolese branch of Nigeria’s Access Bank and, more recently, as non-executive chairman of the Congolese branch of South Africa’s Standard Bank. Mr. Tuma-Waku, a civil engineer, holds a Masters Degree in Mining and a Diploma in Business Administration.

About the appointment of Mr. Tuma-Waku, Buenassa CEO, Eddy Kioni, said:

“We are delighted to welcome Mr. Simon Tuma- Waku to Buenassa. His unparalleled expertise and holistic experience in the mining industry will be invaluable in shaping Buenassa’s strategic initiatives, particularly at the current stage of its development, which requires multi-stakeholders engagement with government, industry and the local community. “

Marie-Paule Donsimoni-Bupp, Chairwoman of Buenassa’s Advisory Board, added:

“Buenassa’s leadership will certainly draw on Simon’s deep understanding of the politics and stakeholders of the project’s ecosystem to assist Eddy and his C-suite in shaping a sound development strategy, and beyond a solid operational framework.”

For his part, Simon Tuma-Waku said,

“I am honored to join Buenassa as Special Advisor to the CEO. I look forward to using my experience to contribute to Buenassa’s strategic direction and advance the company’s sustainable mining agenda. Buenassa’s project is clearly ground-breaking in the level of support it has secured from the DRC government and in its alignment with its vision. Such projects will progressively reshape the global supply chains of some of the most important critical minerals that the country holds in large part for a more just and equitable energy transition focused on local value creation and transformational impact on the national economy and local communities.”

About Buenassa
Buenassa SARL is a Congolese owned startup company in the DRC focused on financing, processing, recycling and trading critical minerals with an emphasis on traceability of such minerals and the implementation of responsible practices along the entire supply chain with the aim to foster local mineral beneficiation programs.

Buenassa builds partnerships with local suppliers to produce a diverse range of resources for international markets assisted by international technical and financial partners. Buenassa’s mission is to deliver physical commodities efficiently, timeously and at the highest level of service with a focus on Climate Smart Mining.

Contact – External Relations: [email protected]