Haut-Katanga: Mining activities of two mining companies near the Shinkolobwe site suspended
Two mining companies operating around the Shinkolobwe mining site in Kambove territory (Haut-Katanga) have been forced to suspend their activities. The measure recently taken by José Mpanda, Congolese minister of scientific research, was carried out on Monday by the provincial government. These are the companies of Lualaba Mining and Kapm.
According to the vice-governor of Haut-Katanga, Jean-Claude Kamfwa Kimimba, even (Gécamines) should stop it’s activities around Shinkolobwe.
“The decision was taken to notify these two companies which carry out their activities a few meters from the Shinkolobwe mine to suspend their activities. Gécamines must also suspend its activities in the surrounding area”, explained Mr. Kamfwa, during his presentation.
At the same event, he called on the community of Kambove to report to the authorities all those who steal the minerals from Shinkolobwe.
“We ask the entire population of Kambove territory to denounce all those involved in the theft of minerals from Shinkolobwe because they expose the entire population to radiation,” he added.
Securing the Shinkolobwe mine, where uranium is found in the DRC
According to a local official source, a fence, surveillance cameras … Various measures are being considered by the Congolese authorities to try and finally stop the clandestine exploitation by artisanal “diggers” of the former uranium mine of Shinkolobwe, in the south-east of the DRC.
It was from this mine, 150 km north of Lubumbashi, that the uranium used to manufacture the first atomic bombs dropped in 1945 on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was extracted.
Belonging to the state-owned company Gécamines (Générale des Carrières et des Mines), it has been officially closed since 1960 and the last presidential ordinance confirming this closure dates back to 2004.
“But the clandestine operation of the mine continues and we informed the authorities about it last June”, Paul Kisimba, human rights and civil society activist from Likasi, a town located in Likasi, 30 km from the mine told AFP by telephone.
“All the security services committed to the surveillance of this mining site have failed in their mission,” he accuses, “whether it is the elements of the Fardc (armed forces), the police and even the industrial guards of the Gécamines who were supposed to enforce surveillance measures”. According to Kisimba, the security services are actually in the forefront of bringing in the artisanal miners at night for the money.
