ABSTRACT
This chapter contends that mining is a moving project. When Congolese miners say that they are “chasing” or “hunting” the gold veins, this entails the use of specific knowledge and techniques for making gold visible and accessible, and for making tailings valuable and profitable. Taking a historical perspective, this chapter analyzes the mobility of people, technology, and material in the gold mines of Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It is based on many years of ethnographic field research in Sud-Kivu and Haut-Uele provinces. After situating the mobility of mine workers and mining technologies in different time periods – with the colonial era, liberalization, and artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) mechanization as critical junctures – this chapter offers a place to understand connections and contemporary movements across space and production modes.
