THE Democratic Republic of Congo has suspended the head of its artisanal mining regulator as authorities intensify a crackdown on illegal operations on copper and cobalt concessions, Bloomberg reported.
Mines Minister Louis Watum removed Jean-Paul Kapongo Kadiobo as director general of SAEMAPE on October 21, saying he had failed to prevent illicit artisanal mining on permits held by other companies.
SAEMAPE (Service d’Assistance et d’Encadrement de l’Exploitation Minière Artisanale et à Petite Échelle) is the government agency responsible for supervising and supporting artisanal and small-scale mining in the DRC.
The move follows the detention of about 300 Chinese nationals in Congo’s copper belt, mainly around Kolwezi, as part of a broader operation against unauthorised mining.
SAEMAPE oversees and seeks to formalise artisanal and small-scale mining in Congo, the world’s second-largest copper producer and biggest source of cobalt. The agency’s provincial head in Lualaba, where Kolwezi is located, was also suspended, according to local media.
Watum’s order accused Kapongo Kadiobo of improperly deploying SAEMAPE tax collectors at sites where artisanal miners were operating without permission.
Foreign groups including CMOC, Glencore and Zijin account for much of Congo’s industrial copper and cobalt output, while artisanal mining supports hundreds of thousands of people.
Authorities have sent a multi-agency commission to Kolwezi to demilitarise mining sites, audit processing plants and move artisanal miners to authorised areas.
Congo also agreed last week to relocate more than 20,000 miners from Kamilombe, a site on a Gecamines licence, to a designated artisanal mining zone.
