DRC: blessing or curse?

Young gold miner in Mongbwalu, DRC [Amelia Bookstein]

For the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), decades of gold mining should have provided a ticket to prosperity. In reality it has trapped the country in a cycle of violence and poverty

Since civil war in 1996, the plundering of gold has done little but fuel conflict in the DRC, with army, militia and other elites growing rich on the profits.

In the gold-rich area around Mongbwalu in the north east of the country, more than half of the population lives from mining.

Large-scale mining stopped when civil war broke out in 1996, leaving mining company employees unpaid and jobless.

Since then, people like Dorcia Biwaga, have been working in abandoned mines in harsh and dangerous conditions, yet there are few other options for making a living.

Mining is a matter of survival for Dorica: “I started this work when I was 14. I know how risky it is, rocks can fall which will kill you.”

“I only work here for food for today and then tomorrow we will come again.”

Now AngloGold Ashanti, one of the world’s major gold companies, is exploring its concession in this area for a potential new mining operation.

Yet local people have little say over a decision that will have a profound effect on their lives and livelihoods. They could gain much – or lose their only means of making a living.

CAFOD’s partner organisations in DRC are urging AngloGold Ashanti to consult small-scale miners on its plans and to share with the local community the details of the financial and social agreements they have made with the government.

As part of the Unearth Justice campaign, CAFOD partners are working to ensure that the mine brings tangible benefits to the Congolese economy and that the arrival of AngloGold Ashanti does not leave thousands of small-scale miners with no way of making a living.

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