ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the gold sector in South Kivu, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Official gold production in South Kivu is extremely low. In reality, however, gold is currently the most important sub-sector in terms of the number of people involved and volumes and value produced. Gold mining and trade thus provide a livelihood for thousands of people in South Kivu, in a context where few viable alternative livelihoods are available. The chapter focuses on qualitative fieldwork in different gold mines in South Kivu and in Bukavu. It analyses practical norms regulating transactions and interactions in artisanal gold exploitation and unofficial trade. The chapter also analyses the practical norms of local power complexes. The level of the practical norms regulating the current system of gold production and trade, which are 'evident' in the eyes of the actors involved, but 'elusive' for outsiders wanting to control or formalize them.
