ABSTRACT
Republic (CAR) and the Republic of Congo (RoC). The mineral sector of CAR and Cameroon is relatively small compared to major producers such as Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and is confined to mainly artisanal, small-scale production (Sale 2006). The 700 km border area between Cameroon and CAR is diamond rich (Gweth 2006). Gold mining started in Cameroon in 1933 and between 1934 and 1984, output was in the range of 20 tons, equating to an annual production average of 400 kg, which has a value of two billion FCFA (US$4.3 million) (Lang 2007). In CAR, mining also started in the 1930s with alluvial discoveries, with gold production peaking in the early 1980s at 521 kg and diamonds at 609,360 carats in 1968. Recent data are shown in Table 1. Since 2003, investors have been increasingly interested in industrial mineral exploitation, and a number of companies have been granted exploration licenses in Cameroon and CAR (e.g. for Cameroon: African Aura Resources Ltd. of the United Kingdom (gold), Geovic Cameroon Plc of Canada (cobalt-manganese-nickel), Hydromine Inc. of the United States (iron ore), Mega Uranium Ltd. of Canada (uranium), and Sundance Resources Ltd. of Australia (iron ore); for CAR
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Artisanal mining in the Congo Basin
Small-scale mining employs over 13 million people in developing countries; and an additional 100 million people are dependent indirectly on this sector for their livelihoods (CASM 2009, Danielsen 2000). Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) refers to mining by individuals, groups, families, or cooperatives with minimal or no mechanisation, often informally and/or illegally (Hentschel et al. 2002). Of over 40 different minerals that are exploited by artisanal miners, gold and diamonds account for more than half of the number of people involved. Sub-Saharan Africa produces over 60% of world’s artisanally mined diamonds. In general, ASM provides cash income for poor people, requires few financial and technical inputs and is labour intensive, with modest levels of production and efficiency. Miners are generally simultaneously engaged in other activities, such as agriculture (CASM 2009).
