China’s involvement in the illegal and exploitive mining practices in African countries that have caused socio-economic problems. The African countries have expressed concern over robbing them of their rightful share and promised infrastructure development by China.
Three Chinese nationals were arrested in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in relation to illegal mining activities, possession of gold bars, and money laundering earlier this year. Last year, 17 Chinese people were arrested for running an illegal gold mine in the DRC. There are more than 450 illegal mines in the DRC that are mostly run by the Chinese.
Jacque Purusi, governor of DRC’s South Kivu province expressed concerns over the involvement of organised network and the plunder of the country’s precious minerals by the Chinese. “This is only one-tenth of what they have already taken from us. We will not let it go. This is the wealth of the people of South Kivu. We are determined to go all the way because enough is enough,” he said.
Purusi had in July 2024 suspended all mining activities amid the reports of illegal and exploitive mining activities. The DRC had forced six Chinese firms to stop mining. Nigeria also had terminated the contracts awarded to Chinese companies for their exploitive practices. Several Chinese citizens have been arrested in Nigeria over engagement in illegal mining activities.
China has been blamed for using the Belt Road Initiative (BRI) to tap into the vast reserves of cobalt, lithium, copper, and other minerals in African continent, which are crucial for the development of advanced technology. Now African countries are highlighting ill-effects – the exploitive and illegal mining activities, socio-economic problems and surge in the local militancy and violence.
China poured in huge money in African countries, especially in Nigeria, Namibia and Ghana, with eye on the rare and precious minerals, said experts. China is the latest exploiter of Africa that has been a victim historically, said Leonard Otuonye Ugbajah, executive director at Nigeria-based Centre for Trade and Business Environment Advocacy. While Beijing continued to refute the reports of illegal mining and corruption, the action against Chinese miners and the growing tension with African countries suggest otherwise.
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Notably, Chinese miners did not have paid USD 10 million in taxes and fines to the DRC government. Moreover, the promises of infrastructure development in return of minerals by Chinese mining firms remained on paper. “They promised to build schools, bridges, roads, hospitals, and a stadium, and to provide scholarships for our students. But they have done nothing,” said one of the protestors, who undertook a protest rally in Mwenga territory.
China has been invading the African continent, said Amani Matabaro Tom, Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy. He said China exploited almost every sector, especially, mining, in the name of exchange for public infrastructures. “Looking at what is happening on the ground in Africa right now, we see China’s imperialism, we see human rights and the environment both at high risk, and we see rampant corruption and a lack of good governance,” Tom said.
Chinese miners have been extracting gold in the DRC without proper licenses or adherence to Congolese laws, found The French Institute of International Relations (IFRI), an independent research organisation. Ghana has seen its relations with China straining over the same concern.
Even Small-scale, artisanal mining is permitted for the people of Ghana, over 85 percent is being carried out by Chinese illegally. “Th¬e case of illegal Chinese mining arises as a breach of the stipulations of the Minerals and Mining Act 2006 which clearly reserves small-scale mining to only Ghanaians,” Nathaniel Ocquaye of the London School of Economics (LSE).
The distrust about China is growing among the African nations as Etienne Mutware, a lecturer at the Bukavu-based Evangelical University, said the locals were robbed of potential revenue by the Chinese illegal mining. “Partnerships are meant to bring mutual benefits like infrastructure, schools, and development. However, fraud, corruption, and illegal mining in the Congo have thwarted these expectations, resulting in a significant loss for both the population and the nation,” he said.