Chinese syndicate captures DRC Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining
China’s presence in Africa has been praised and criticised. The Chinese government and its state-owned companies have established themselves as strategic partners for Africa’s development. However, there are Chinese nationals who come to the continent, sometimes illegally, who tarnish China’s image by engaging themselves in illegal and fraudulent businesses in the mining sector. It is the case of a Chinese citizen called Lin Hao who has captured the Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with the support of local authorities.
For 20 years now ASM of copper, gold and cobalt in the DRC has been controlled by the Chinese. The law does not permit foreigners to operate in the ASM sector. The Chinese are accused of serious human rights abuses and corruption. Most of the time, these operators get away with such atrocities due to the support they received from government officials, the police and the military.
Hao is a typical unscrupulous operator within the DRC’s ASM sector involved in gold in Ituri in the eastern part of the country. He has been in the DRC for the past 10 years and is one of the big actors in the Chinese network involved in the illegal exploitation of minerals in the DRC. Hao has acquired over 20 exploration permits. The Southern Africa Resource Watch has it on good authority that other permits are being processed. However, Hao does not wait for a permit to be issued for him to start his activities. Furthermore, he uses his exploration permits to exploit the minerals. Hao’s most known mining company is Kimia Mining Investment Sarl.
In 2021 the United Nations Security Council Group of Experts on the DRC established that Chinese mining activities are protected illegally by members of the DRC armed forces. The group of experts documented that the illegal presence of the DRC arm forces (FARDC) at mining areas owned by Chinese citizens included a company called Gold Dragon Resources RDC, managed by Wang Bin and at Kimia Mining Investment Sarl owned by Hao. The DRC Mining Code and the military regulation forbid the presence of the military on mining sites. In addition, the UN group of experts also established that Hao exploitation uses heavy dredging, which excludes its activities from pure ASM. Despite the use of heavy equipment in the extraction of gold, the Congolese government has never established the quantity of gold that Kimia mining extracts. According to the UN Security Council expert panel report, Kimia Mining operated at least three large gold dredging machines and 10 excavators; however, the mining authority statistics show that Kimia Mining Investment Sarl did not record any exports in 2020. The destination of the gold produced by Kimia mining is not known according to mining authorities. Members of the Congolese army that guard the mine do not allow mining authorities access to the site for routine control and verification. On 22 June 2021, Hao was arrested attempting to smuggle 31 kg of gold out of the country under the name of MCC Resource company. The case has never been followed and the whereabouts of the 31 kg of gold remains unknown.
The destination of the gold produced by Kimia mining is not known according to mining authorities.
In an effort to demonstrate the level of irregularity in Hao’s activities, the UN expert group also established that his mining site called Muchacha is situated within a mining concession (PE7657) that belongs to MCC Resources, which has been identified as a property of Cong Maohuai, according to a public registry of the enterprise at Congolese Mining cadastral. Even more outrageous is the fact that Muchacha mine is located within the perimeter of the Okapi Wildlife Reserve. Mining in the Okapi Wildlife Reserve is prohibited under the 1992 legislation establishing and delimiting a nature reserve.
Mr Hao has no relations with communities and he is known for abusing labour and the communities’ rigths. For example, recently one of the soldiers guiding his mining site shot and killed an artisanal miner in the province of South Kivu. The community revolted and killed the soldier. The Congolese government is obligated to investigate the activities of Chinese nationals like Hao and identify government and military personnel that shield them from accountability. If left to operate illegally, such figures will be a serious danger for the state and the people of the DRC.
Masutane Modjadji is the Communications Office for Southern Africa Resource Watch.
Following the publication of this article Kgor Sarl, a company with the majority of shares in Kimia Mining Investment responded to SARW’s article. Here is a full response from Kgor Sarl: Réponse à Sarw.
