The mining sector in the DRC is seen as a potentially large revenue earner capable of funding rehabilitation and economic revival, but hopes that mining can act as an engine for growth will not be realised unless immediate action is taken to control the illicit trade in minerals from the south-eastern province of Katanga.

"Stringent and transparent management of natural resource exploitation is crucial to the future peace, stability and economic development of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)," says a report from Global Witness released in September. The report says there is currently a “cobalt rush” occurring in Katanga caused by record-high international cobalt prices. But it notes that there is “little indication” that this dramatic rise in trade has had any benefit to the DRC economy or the Katangan province.

The real losers in the “cobalt rush”, notes the report, are artisanal miners working under "appalling" conditions in mines throughout southern Katanga. "Deprived of any alternative sources of employment, young men and boys work for as little as US$1 per day gathering mineral soil by hand. They have no protective equipment, and their activities are left completely unregulated by local authorities."

The report makes recommendations to the international donor community, the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, transitional government and United Nations. The DRC is emerging from a devastating conflict that cost the lives of an estimated three million people. A transitional government is charged with taking the country through to elections in 2005.

* Written from the report by Pambazuka News. For the full report, click on http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC16091