President Joseph Kabila signed the new code earlier this month, replacing the previous 2002 law. Foreign investors in Congo, which include Glencore, Randgold, China Molybdenum and Ivanhoe, said it would scare off investment and violate existing agreements. In a meeting before he signed the code, Kabila assured the companies their concerns would be discussed in follow-up talks to draft regulations for the sector. Mines Minister Martin Kabwelulu told...that the talks with major companies present in Congo...would begin on Friday...the negotiations will be divided into six “pillars” running from March 16 to April 24, with a preliminary draft of the regulations to be completed by May 2. Government officials have already begun work on pillar 1. The regulations must be adopted by the government within 90 days of the code’s signing - on June 7...Miners enjoyed a 10-year protection under the former code’s stability clause against changes to the fiscal and customs regime but those were annulled by the new law, which says that its provisions enter into effect immediately. The companies still hope the government will honor the 10-year exemptions but Congolese officials have said no compromises reached in the talks can contradict provisions in the code...It also calls for discussions about royalty increases, which would raise payments up to five-fold on metals designated “strategic substances” by the government. The office of Prime Minister Bruno Tshibala appeared to preempt those discussions last week by saying cobalt, whose price has more than tripled in the past two years due to rising demand for electric vehicles, would be declared a strategic substance and that copper could be as well.