Mining industry of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Industrial mining Industrial mining is the mechanized extraction of minerals using heavy machinery, proper mining sites, and formal legalized operations. In the DRC, these mines are typically run by large corporations or foreign firms, which allows them to process massive volumes of ore and meet the demand for cobalt used in electric vehicles and electronics worldwide. This mining type includes modern safety standards, designated work zones, and regulated labor laws as compared to artisanal mines. ---- Artisanal and semi-industrial mining Artisanal mining is a form of mineral extraction carried out by individuals or small groups using basic tools such as hands, rocks, or pick axes in rare cases. Miners are digging for cobalt, copper, or other minerals in shallow pits, dangerous narrow tunnels, and informal open sites. This form of mining is usually driven by a lack of other employment opportunities, which makes it the main source of income for many families. Artisanal mining operates outside of formal systems and lacks the protections found in regulated industrial mines, making workers vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. Artisanal mining is considered illegal since many sites operate outside of state regulation or formal labor laws. In the DRC miners often work on land that is owned by companies or in areas with a lack of official mining permits. This makes it hard to enforce labor protections or environmental protection policies, leading to the abuse of workers. Many people in the Congo depend on mining as their only form of income creating a cycle where these illegal, artisanal mines still run at the expense of these people’s lives. == Major commodities ==

Copper and cobalt Most mining occurs in the Copperbelt region. Cobalt, vital for electric vehicle batteries, is sourced from both industrial and artisanal mines. The government created Entreprise Générale du Cobalt (EGC) to regulate artisanal cobalt production. Diamonds The DRC is among the largest diamond producers by volume, mostly through artisanal mining. A significant share of production is industrial-grade. Gold Gold mining is concentrated in eastern provinces. Gold smuggling across borders, particularly to Uganda and Rwanda, finances armed groups. Lithium The Manono-Kitolo region holds large lithium deposits under development. 3T minerals (Tantalum, Tin, Tungsten) The so-called 3T minerals—tantalum, tin, and tungsten—are mined artisanally in the eastern DRC. Overall Profits It is estimated that the untapped raw materials in the DRC are valued at $24 trillion U.S. dollars. Their current international GDP is over $132 billion U.S. dollars. == History ==

Pre-colonial mining (c. 14th century) Mining in the DRC was carried out by Indigenous peoples for centuries before colonial powers arrived. For example, the Katanga Cross, made from sand cast copper, existed from at least the 14th century, and evolved in use first as a symbol of wealth, and later a form of currency. The accounts of explorers such as David Livingstone and Frederick Stanley Arnot brought news of the mineral wealth of Katanga to Europe for the first time in the 19th century. At the time of the Berlin Conference that precipitated the Scramble for Africa, the copper mining region of the DRC was controlled by Indigenous peoples, mainly the Yeke Kingdom headed by Msiri. The kingdom had an already well-established trade network in resources, with copper from the Katanga region making up an important part. Colonialism in the DRC (1885-1960) The Democratic Republic of the Congo has a long history of colonization, divided into two major parts: the reign of King Leopold II from 1885 to 1908, and Belgian colonization from 1908 to 1960. During this colonial regime, the Congolese were subjected to massive exploitation and human rights abuses. The country attracted European powers due to the increased global demand for rubber. In order to keep up with the demand, a reign of terror was imposed on the citizens. Mass scale looting (1998) After Rwanda, Uganda, and Burundi's successful 1998 invasion of eastern and southeastern DRC in the Second Congo War (1998-2003), "mass scale looting" took root, according to the United Nations. While initial invasion tactics were still being worked out, military commanders were already making business deals with foreign companies for the Congo's vast mineral reserves. Global Witness in 2004 described the mining corporations' rush to acquire coltan-rich land in the rebel territory of the DRC as a continuation of the pattern of exploitation in play since the 1885 Conference of Berlin. Mining resumes (2001–present) Following the peace accord in 2003, the focus returned to mining. Rebel groups supplied international corporations through unregulated mining by soldiers, locals organized by military commanders and by foreign nationals. The political framework was unstable. The mass looting died down as stocks of minerals were depleted, and soldiers were encouraged by their commanders to take part in small-scale looting, which started an "active extraction phase". The same year, the IFC began working with the DRC on legal and regulatory improvements through an advisory service called "Conflict Affected States in Africa" (CASA). It suspended most activities during a dispute between IFC and the DRC over the expropriation of a mining investment. In September 2010, the Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda (FDLR), a group of mostly Hutu rebels, were reported to exploit timber, gold and coltan in North Kivu and South Kivu. In September 2010, the government banned mining in the east of the country, to crack down on illegal organisations and corruption. In 2011, the DRC was accused of "selling off billions of dollars of mining assets at knockdown prices". In 2012 the DRC began reviewing its 2002 mining code. It received warnings from the World Bank, was heavily lobbied by mining companies and investors who wanted to be included in the revision discussions, and did not complete the project. In 2012 the DRC failed to provide sufficient details on the process whereby state mining company Gécamines ceded mining assets to a company based in the British Virgin Islands, and the IMF called off a $530 million loan. At the end of 2012 the IMF suspended the last loan payments, because of a lack of transparency in the DRC's process for awarding mining contracts. The mining sector has since expanded, but commodity prices have declined and this has hampered the DRC's progress. In July 2013, the IFC advisory service CASA re-engaged and helped the DRC adopt and implement the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA) Treaty. In March 2016, 42 NGOs urged Kabila to update the 2002 mining code after a draft was submitted to parliament in March, but Kabila decided to wait until metal markets recovered. Canadian, Chinese, and Australian companies are heavily involved in DRC mining. Chinese companies, supported by the Belt and Road Initiative, have significantly expanded their footprint. == Mining companies ==

Canada In 2004, the FARDC killed between seventy and one hundred civilians in the town of Kilwa, near Anvil Mining's Dikulushi mine, which resulted in legal proceedings against Anvil Mining in the DRC and Canada, investigations by the Australian Federal Police and by the World Bank Group's Office of the Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman. In 2005, the World Bank's Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) funded the first DRC project by Canada and Ireland as co-investors, on behalf of the Dikulushi Mine held by Anvil Mining in Katanga Province. According to the Congolese government, in 2009 Canadian companies held US$4.5 billion in mining-related investments in the DR Congo. In 2009, First Quantum Minerals, active in the D.R.C since 1997, reported its corporate social responsibility contributions amounted to 3% of the Congolese gross national income. It was the DRC's largest taxpayer that year, accounting for between one-eighth and one-quarter of collected revenue. Since 2009, First Quantum Minerals and Heritage Oil, had their mining permits revoked by the DRC government. First Quantum closed all its Congolese operations in 2010, and in concert with other stakeholders initiated international arbitration proceedings against the Congolese government. The Congolese revocation was seen as a rebuke for the Government of Canada's alleged attempts to obstruct the negotiation of International Monetary Fund and World Bank debt relief to the DRC in 2010. In 2012, First Quantum's legal dispute with the DRC ended in an out-of-court settlement. By the late 2000s, the DRC was either the top or second-leading African destination for Canadian mining activity. According to the Canadian government, 28 Canadian firms were involved in mining and exploration in the DRC between 2001 and 2009, with four carrying out commercial-scale extraction; collectively, these companies' assets in the DRC ranged between Cdn.$161 million in 2003 and $5.2 billion in 2008. Canada's mining ministry, Natural Resources Canada, estimated the 2009 value of Canadian-owned mining assets in the DRC at Cdn.$3.3 billion, ten times more than in 2001, making the DRC the African country with second-highest African level of Canadian investment after Madagascar, and Canadian investment in the Congo representing a sixth of total Canadian mining assets in Africa. Most Canadian mining firms operating in the DRC during the 2000s—or earlier—focused on exploring, developing, or extracting copper and cobalt on a large scale. According to the World Bank, three Canadian companies—First Quantum Minerals, Lundin Mining (in partnership with U.S.-based Freeport-McMoRan), and Katanga Mining—were expected to account for over two-thirds of Congo's copper production between 2008 and 2013 and a similar share of cobalt output from 2008 to 2014. These companies, and Canadian-incorporated Anvil Mining, were involved in industrial copper and cobalt extraction during 2000–2010. In the diamond sector, Montreal-based Dan Gertler has been active since 1997. Seven other Canadian junior companies reported owning properties in the DRC during 2001–2009, including Canaf Group through its 2008 acquisition of diamond mining company New Stone Mining, and BRC DiamondCore. Montreal-based Shamika Resources has been exploring for tantalum, niobium, tin and tungsten in the eastern DRC and Loncor Resources for gold, platinum, tantalum and other metals. Two Canadian-registered companies own petroleum concessions in the DRC: Heritage Oil, whose founder and former CEO is Tony Buckingham, and EnerGulf Resources. Up until early 2011, four of the nine International Finance Corporation sponsored or proposed DRC projects were for Canadian-owned companies active in the DRC: to Kolwezi/Kingamyambo Musonoi Tailings SARL owned by Adastra Minerals ($50.0m., invested in 2006), Africo Resources Ltd. (acquisition of Cdn.$8m. in Africo shares, invested in 2007), and Kingamyambo Musonoi Tailings SARL as acquired by First Quantum, proposed in 2009 at a value of US$4.5 million in equity funding. Still in 2011, Canada's Fraser Institute annual survey of mining executives reported the DRC's ranking of its mining exploration investment favorability fell from eighth-poorest in 2006 down to second-poorest in 2010, among 45 African, Asian and Latin American countries and 24 jurisdictions in Canada, Australia and the United States, and this was attributed to "the uncertainty created by the nationalization and revision of contracts by the Kabila government". In 2012, Banro Corporation began gold production at its Twangiza Mine, after owning gold concessions in the South Kivu and Maniema provinces, the Twangiza-Namoya gold belt, since 1996. Six other Canadian companies have previously owned Congolese gold properties, including Barrick Gold (1996–1998), and Moto Goldmines (2005–2009). China China and the DRC signed an MOU on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) cooperation during a tour of China's Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, making the DRC, China's 45th Belt and Road Initiative partner in Africa. Also known as the "New Silk Road," the initiative consists of a network of railways, pipelines, highways and ports linking these networks of infrastructure to other Belt and Road Initiative partner countries in Russia, Europe, India, Central Asia and Southeast Asia. A positive move for the DRC and China relations when China decided to write off debts from the DRC and the new partnering for the Belt and Road Initiative, this will encourage further cooperation between the two countries and encourage investment from more Chinese miners, like China Molybdenum, to enter investments into the Congolese copper and cobalt industry. Foreign mining companies Foreign mining companies employ many local workers in cobalt extraction while a significant portion of their profits are directed to corporations and international markets rather than local populations. In some cases, families rely on mining work as a primary source of income, despite the hazardous labor. Global demand for cobalt supports profits for foreign processing companies and importing nations, while the workers earn low wages. This structure can make it difficult to trace responsibility for unsafe labor conditions and labor rights violations across the many supply chains. == State participation and ownership ==

Following the liberalisation of the mining sector in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has continued to participate in large-scale mining primarily through minority equity stakes held by state-owned enterprises, most notably Gécamines. Under the 2002 Mining Code, the state typically retains a non-operating share in mining projects developed with private investors. Research on the Congolese mining sector has noted that while privatisation contributed to increased copper and cobalt production, the reduction in state ownership also limited the government’s direct influence over investment decisions along the mineral value chain. Policy-oriented studies argue that state equity participation can provide leverage over strategic assets and support industrial policy objectives, although weak corporate governance in state-owned enterprises remains a persistent challenge. == Environmental and human rights concerns ==

The mining industry of the Democratic Republic of Congo raises many environmental justice and human rights concerns. Mining revenues have historically fueled conflict, corruption, and violence rather than creating institutions to distribute the wealth equally. A harsh cycle was created where citizens of the DRC living closest to the mines experience displacement, exposure to pollution, and life-threatening dangers of working in mines while receiving almost zero compensation. Zhaohui Feng, a researcher at the institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources in China states, “Environmental pollution caused by mining dust, tailings, and other mining wastes also bring nearby residents serious health risks”. As with many cases of environmental injustice, those most affected by the mines are the least protected by law and the least repaid for damage done to their homes and lives. One of the most major human rights issues tied to DRC mining is dangerous labor conditions in said mines. Some examples are, unsafe tunnels, collapsing shafts, very minimal protective equipment, and worker exploitation. In addition to these risks, many miners earn very little, around fifty cents to two dollars a day, despite the high profits generated from their mining. Child labor is also rampant in the DRC, with children sent into narrow passes that adults cannot access or they are tasked with carrying and washing ore. Mining also causes deforestation in the Congo and surrounding areas adding to the deforestation issues around the world. Feng states, : ““mining increased deforestation in tropical countries, particularly in South America and Africa…”. These environmental and human rights abuses continue to exist mainly due to the gap between legal frameworks and enforcement of those frameworks. The DRC has introduced laws and institutions meant to regulate mining and account for environmental impacts, but these laws are rarely implemented effectively. Poor governance, lack of resources, and corruption prevent the state from monitoring mines, enforcing safety standards, or requiring cleaning after extraction. The lack of practice in their policies means that though protections exist on paper, citizens of the DRC continue to deal with the consequences of toxic exposure, unsafe work, and environmental degradation. == Regulation ==

The DRC’s mining sector operates under a revised mining code, passed in 2018, which increased royalties and taxes compared to the 2002 code. Despite opposition from mining companies, the reforms aimed to boost government revenues. However, these reforms also included environmental and human rights regulations, but they are rarely enforced. There is a clear gap between the existence of environmental laws and the state’s ability to implement them. According to Marie Mazalto, a researcher specializing in social studies, public policy, and mining governance and Jeremey Richards, “In fact, new legal and institutional frameworks have been elaborated to ensure systematic accounting of environmental dimensions of all phases of mining projects. Yet… the Congolese State does not currently possess the means to adequately apply the law, and there is a large gap between the legal framework and actual practice.” Limited funding, corruption, and weak policies prevent the government from properly monitoring mining sites leading to disregarded labor protections and a lack of responsibility for cleanup after mining. This keeps exposing industrial and artisanal miners to work in conditions that expose them to pollution, unsafe tunnels, and toxins while those responsible face little to no justice. The quick expansion of cobalt production between 2000 and 2020 further weakened the DRC’s regulatory systems, leaving miners easily exploitable. The people of Congo must mine as their main source of income, therefore, abuses are rooted in the failure to formalize and regulate artisanal mining systems. Because of the lack of proper regulation exploitation and constant abuse has become normal in this mining system. The weak system allows corporations and elites to profit at the cost of human livelihoods. == See also ==