Efforts to introduce greater transparency into DRC’s mining sector have seen minimal progress in a trade that enriches individuals and companies far from Kamituga’s murky rivers and hills. With little political will to drive real change, it seems the situation for those living on some of the richest soil in the world will remain precarious. A recent Impact report documents how registered traders and exporters provide a veneer of legality by declaring a small percentage of their gold exports while pocketing huge profits and avoiding official taxes from illicit trade. This means that the gold smuggled out of DRC which flows on to the legal international gold market is tied to criminality, money laundering, armed groups and human rights abuses, according to the report. Germany’s Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources estimates DRC’s artisanal gold production to be 14 to 20 tonnes a year, with a value of $543m to $812m. Gold mining also feeds into interlocking conflicts, shrouded in various forms of illicit trading. A recent Impact report documents how registered traders and exporters provide a veneer of legality by declaring a small percentage of their gold exports while pocketing huge profits and avoiding official taxes from illicit trade.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN