Mining Introduction

The Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) has a long history of informal placer mining and some official mining at the historic Kili-moto mines. Several potential deposits have also been identified by international mining companies, but have not been developed because of political instability for many years and, more recently, the civil war which erupted in Congo in 1998 when Ugandan and Rwandan backed rebels invaded to overthrow Kinshasa's central government. Even the informal sector has now been affected by the war, with estimates by GFMS of production falling to around 4 to 5 tonnes (0.13 - 0.16 million oz) annually. This gold is smuggled out of the country, mainly to European destinations. A moderate increase in informal output from the occupied territories during the last few years of conflict can, in part, be explained by opportunistic exploitation of gold deposits by the rebels, however, total informal production levels are still significantly lower than a decade ago.