Page 67 - Vol 32 Issue 33 2121

politics mining

The Way That Minerals Are Mined

Affects Conflict in Eastern Congo

By Marijke Verpoorten, Nik Stoop and Peter van der Windt

trong evidence links the mining Linking extraction modes to local conflict
of minerals to local conflict in We focused on eastern Congo because There are other factors that affect
Sseveral African countries. This it has high rebel activity, high levels of violence. But we isolated the impact of
is because minerals are prized by conflict and is well-known for its mineral prices by studying monthly changes in
rebel groups and are a source of their deposits, mainly gold and the ‘3T violence and controlled for all common
financing. Examples include the “blood minerals’ - tin, tungsten, and tantalum. changes across grid cells - like elections -
diamonds” that were used to finance These three are commonly found and for all fixed factors within each cell -
armed groups in Sierra Leone and Liberia. in electronics products. It also has a huge like geography.
But existing research makes no database on artisanal mining sites and As for the relationship with rising
distinction on how the two main their locations. industrial mines, a change in the mining
types of mineral extraction - artisanal Currently, about 382 000 artisanal code in 2002 triggered a huge rise in
and industrial mining - affect conflict. miners dig for minerals in eastern Congo’s industrial permits - from 237 to 3,368
Making this distinction is important. 2,700 mining sites. Because there are so research permits and 82 to 327 production
Doing so means policymakers can direct many, the central government struggles permits. This allowed us to investigate the
interventions towards reducing conflict. to get a grip on them. The minerals sector’s relationship to conflict.
Artisanal mining generally refers to they dig up are easily smuggled out of Different forms of violence
the manual extraction of minerals. the country, escaping formal taxation. We found that both extraction modes,
It’s often controlled by local elites. It Artisanal mining should take place in and how they interacted with each other,
provides working opportunities for up clearly demarcated zones. But very few led to different forms of violence.
to 20 million people in Africa alone. of these exist and only 1% of artisanal
Industrial mining is mechanised; miners operate in them. The majority A rise in global mineral prices led
practised by large, often international, (61%) operate on industrial concessions. to increased battles, attacks against
companies. It has close relations To study the link between the mode of civilians and looting around artisanal
with national elites but only provides mineral extraction and local conflict, we mining sites. We believe this was
a few jobs to low-skilled workers. overlay the map of eastern Congo with because of competition between armed
In our recent study, we looked at how 2,176 grid cells of 25 by 25 km. For each groups. Armed actors - like rebels or
government soldiers - were present in
two events - changes in world prices cell we established whether artisanal
of minerals and a surge in industrial and/or industrial mining was present. In about 56% of artisanal mining sites.
mining - affected local conflict in eastern total we examined data on 2,026 artisanal In contrast, at industrial sites, changes
Congo between 2004 and 2015. We mining sites, 3,695 large-scale mining in mineral prices had little to no effect
found that artisanal and industrial concessions and 6,542 conflict events that on conflict. Our interpretation is that
mining had different impacts. occurred between 2004 and 2015. companies can protect their concession
against armed groups with the help of
In the case of artisanal mines, when private security forces and the Congolese
mineral prices rose there were more Mining Police and Congolese Army. This
battles between armed groups over We explored how variations also decreased battles between armed
the mines. By contrast, when industrial in conflict events - like battles actors.
mining was established there were fewer. between armed actors,
But we also saw that the expansion of violence against civilians, However, a move to the industrial
industrial mines triggered riots and also production phase increased incidences
increased violence against civilians. riots and looting - related of violent actions from miners against the
Our findings highlight a need for to changes in the Congolese company.
mining sector. Specifically,
more security measures at artisanal Industrial companies try to address
mining sites. They should be secured, variations in world mineral artisanal miners, who often operate
as the industrial site are, with the prices and a surge in the on their concessions, with carrots - like
help of the Congolese mining police granting of industrial mining corporate social responsibility programs -
and army to ensure less violence. concessions. and sticks, such as forced removal. But the
carrots aren’t enough to accommodate

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