Chinese company Beyond Mining & a local cooperative exploiting gold in DRC at the centre of discontent by civil society
The Chinese company Bayond Mining and the mining cooperative for integral development (COOMIDI), which exploit gold in the Mukera mining site in Fizi territory (South Kivu) are accused by civil society of violating all conventions signed with the local community. The two companies are accused, among other things, of not having compensated the peasants whose fields have been plundered and of not keeping the promise to rehabilitate the roads.
It is since last August that the two companies officially started gold mining work in the Mukera mining site in the Mutambala sector.
“It is true that things are going from bad to worse here in Mukera compared to the management of the mining cooperative for integral development (COOMIDI) with its partner Bayond Mining, a Chinese company that mines gold here in Mukera. These violate the specifications signed with the local population. The specifications provide in particular to: compensate the owners of the fields that have been occupied, restore the artisanal diggers they have found in their rights, rehabilitate the roads of agricultural services, bring water to various villages, build health, schools and so many others… None of these demands so far has yet to be implemented, and they are already two months away from work, ”Christophe Bonane said last Tuesday, president of the civil society of Mukera.
He adds: “When we invite them to various meetings, they do not show up, it is mistrust as they have sufficient means. We think that if they do not manage to respond favorably to these demands, we will initiate citizen actions to demand their departure ”.
In the camp of two mining companies, civil society is called on to be patient while waiting to meet the specifications of the local community. Bushiri Mnemba, chairman of the board of COOMIDI, however, specifies that the owners of the occupied fields have been compensated and the evicted diggers have been paid.
“We are a mining cooperative for integral development. So we are working on the development of the community. It has always been a difficult start and if civil society can complain or be agitated, personally I believe it is for nothing. Because all the promises we made we had fulfilled them. We compensated the owners of the fields, the diggers we met, we paid them. And until then, we still continue with the execution of other claims. What we remind civil society is to take it slow. She wants us to execute everything at the same time, it’s impossible. We have only two months since we are here, we must give ourselves time. Their threats will do us no good,we are working gradually and we are sure that we will satisfy all these people to whom we owe ”, declared the chairman of the board of COOMIDI.
In total, four sites were allocated by the State to these two companies for mining. They are Mukera, Itota, Kananda and Simbi.
Several foreign companies exploit the minerals in the province of South Kivu. Most of these companies are not always in good standing with the State and do not respond favorably to the specifications of the local communities. This is particularly the case of six Chinese companies whose gold mining activities were suspended more than a month ago in Mwenga territory in South Kivu because they were operating illegally. In Kinshasa, a parliamentary commission of inquiry was created in the National Assembly to check in particular the validity of mining titles and contracts across the country.
