DRC evicts illegal miners

Protests by illegal miners in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) ended in confrontation yesterday, as angry artisanal miners clashed with police near Kolwezi, the copper belt mining town.

In recent years, hordes of illegal diggers have made a living from the Anvil Mining concession outside Kolwezi but a government deadline for their activity to cease has now passed.

Police intervened and dispersed the crowds but violent clashes later erupted in the nearby town of Luilu.

Clashes of this nature are becoming increasingly frequent as industrial mining operations move into the DRC’s Katanga region and threaten the livelihoods of the country’s estimated 150,000 artisanal miners.

International mining firms including Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold and Katanga Mining, hold major concessions near Kolwezi.

The DRC has been experiencing a renaissance in its once mighty mining sector since 2006, when President Joseph Kabila was elected.

Many of the country’s illegal miners began digging on abandoned concessions during the decades of civil war and instability that led to the collapse of state mining company, Gecamines.