Huge DR Congo gold mine to open, displacing 15,000
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Friday, July 23, 2010
Mining firm Randgold Resources says it is to begin mining Africa's largest undeveloped gold deposit - in eastern DR Congo.
The mine will require the re-location of 15,000 people, but Randgold
says the project has the support of the government and the local
community.
The mine is thought to have a reserve of about 320 tonnes of gold, it says.
It is as big as any of the current mines in South Africa, one of the world's biggest gold producers.
The Democratic Republic of Congo has massive mineral resources but most of its people live in poverty.
The battle to control mines has been a major factor in the conflict which has raged in eastern DR Congo for at least 16 years.
Randgold, listed on the London Stock Exchange, says it will begin developing the mine from the middle of 2011.
The Kibali gold project is located in a remote corner of DR Congo, close to the Ugandan border.
To develop it, Randgold has had to build a 180km (112-mile) road eastwards to Uganda.
The
region is near an area where Ugandan rebel group the Lord's Resistance
Army (LRA) has operated, but the company says the local police and
security forces have ensured the project can go ahead