In Kolwezi, the provincial president of the Congolese Mining Traders Network (RENEMICO), Mutra Mutunda, is advocating for the reversal of this decision. He believes that the abrupt halt to the miners’ activities affects thousands of families who depend on artisanal mining and could lead to social unrest.
“If artisanal miners stop working, there will be social tensions. We are facing a complicated equation, we don’t know what to do. The day the ministerial decree was published, the movements were interrupted in the quarries, all services are no longer functioning, even the traders have stopped working.”
To ease tensions, the Minister of Mines promised the creation of 64 Artisanal Mining Zones (AEZs) in Lualaba province . The process of allocating these zones is underway.
The suspension aims to put an end to transactions deemed illegal and to the encroachment, according to him, of mining areas by clandestine operators.
