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DRC Mining Minister calls for clean-up of country’s artisanal mining sector

TAKING A STAND The DRC’s Mining Minister has called for the prosecution of provincial mining officials who are found to have acted illegally

Photo by Cosoc-LG

SOPHIA PICKLES Global Witness revealed how armed groups received gifts of arms and cash from a private Chinese mining company and extorted up to $25 000/m from local miners

7th October 2016

By: Ilan Solomons

Creamer Media Staff Writer

  

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The Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC’s) Mines and Geology Minister, Martin Kabwelulu, has called for a “thorough clean-up” of the chaotic artisanal mining sector in the country’s eastern province of South Kivu.

International watchdog organisation Global Witness explains that this move follows recent work by itself and by Congolese civil society organisations to expose links between armed groups, the artisanal gold trade and some public officials in the South Kivu territory of Shabunda.

The Minister has also called for the prosecution of provincial mining officials who are found to have acted illegally and placed new restrictions on a Chinese-owned company accused of illegal operations. His comments were made in a letter sent to South Kivu governor Marcellin Cishambo calling for recognition that “major problems” in “mineral supply chains causing fraud and smuggling of minerals” were evident across the province, particularly in Shabunda.

In his letter of August 24, Kabwelulu committed to carrying out an independent research mission to Shabunda to inspect evidence of wrongdoing exposed by Global Witness. His restrictions on Kun Hou Mining include prohibitions on signing new contracts with mining cooperatives and buying and selling gold.

The Minister moreover acknowledged that high-ranking members of the DRC Army were preying on the mining sector in South Kivu and has requested Defence Minister Aimé Ngoy Mukena to remove them.

Additionally, Kabwelulu in the letter called for inspection of mine sites and new information on mine sites, including the presence of children and pregnant women, to be passed regularly to his office.

In July, a Global Witness investigation named River of Gold revealed how armed groups received gifts of arms and cash from a private Chinese mining company and extorted up to $25 000 a month from local miners during a recent two-year gold boom in Shabunda.

The report also revealed that, in just one year, up to $17-million of gold produced by Chinese-owned company Kun Hou Mining went missing and was likely smuggled out of the DRC into international supply chains. The watchdog points out that Congolese civil society groups had raised the alarm about the “chaos” in Shabunda since 2014.
“Cishambo must respond urgently and publicly, recognising the Minister’s letter and support its contents in full,” states Global Witness senior campaigner Sophia Pickles. She asserts that it is time to put words into action and make sure revenues generated from gold production go into State coffers.

“The population of Shabunda deserves to benefit from their own country’s mineral wealth and not have it swindled away by corrupt officials and cowboy companies.”

The local population and civil society groups in Shabunda welcomed Global Witness’s report at the time of its publication in July, holding a two-day general strike and called for Kun Hou Mining to be investigated by the mining authorities. Pickles adds that local leaders published an open letter demanding the same, as did Congolese civil society. Moreover, she points out that members of the private sector Congolese Chamber of Commerce have also shown strong support for an investigation to be undertaken.
Pickles says that the South Kivu governor and provincial mining authorities have to date allowed Kun Hou Mining to continue to operate freely. Moreover, shortly after the publication of Global Witness’s report, South Kivu’s Ministry of Mining issued a “highly restrictive” new regulation, which prohibited civil society’s access to mine sites without special consent. However, the national Mines Minister has since said that this restriction on civil society should be lifted.

“We know that Kun Hou Mining is still present in the Shabunda territory and has struck up a new deal with at least one mining cooperative in the neighbouring Fizi territory,” says Pickles.

She says that, given the company’s track record, it is unclear why almost a year after Kabwelulu instructed that Kun Hou Mining’s operations be suspended, South Kivu’s governor has allowed the company to continue its operations and even to expand them.

Further, Pickles comments that, in contrast to the Minister’s public intervention, Dubai’s mineral supply chain regulator the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) has remained silent.

Global Witness showed in July that 12 kg of Kun Hou Mining’s gold from Shabunda was officially exported to Dubai-based Alfa Gold Corp. All of South Kivu’s official gold exports for 2014 and 2015 went to Dubai.

Nonetheless, Global Witness is again urging the DMCC to set out what actions it will take in response to the evident failures to meet its own responsible sourcing guidance.

The DRC government endorsed international supply chain due diligence standards established by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in 2010 and brought them into domestic law in 2012.

Pickles points out that the Chinese mineral resources industry has also published similar mineral due diligence guidelines, which provide directions and advice for companies such as Kun Hou Mining to help ensure that their operations are not linked to abuses.

“The DRC government and the South Kivu authorities must ensure that companies in its gold sector adhere to these laws and standards to salvage the credibility of the province’s mineral sector and its supply chains,” she emphasises.

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

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