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Zaire Gold
Gold is found in minable quantities in various
locations in
eastern Zaire. Three companies have been involved in gold
production: the Kilo-Moto Gold Mine Board (Office des
Mines d'Or de
Kilo-Moto--Okimo), which has the main gold mine Sominki,
and
Gécamines. In addition, artisanal gold mining, legalized
in 1983,
has long been substantial. Official gold receipts dropped
in the
early 1990s because of smuggling and looting from
industrial
production sites, as well as extensive smuggling of
artisanal
production into neighboring countries. The Okimo and
Sominki mines
are located in isolated areas, where smuggling and looting
are
relatively easy and transport and resupply difficult.
Artisanal
producers have consistently chosen to smuggle out their
production
rather than accept the lower prices paid by the official
purchasing
counters (comptoirs).
Together the Okimo and Sominki mines accounted for
nearly half
of official gold exports, or about 900 kilograms out of
the more
than 2,000 kilograms that were officially exported in
1988. Of the
1988 total, Okimo produced about 260 kilograms of gold;
Sominki
produced approximately 625 kilograms; and individual
artisanal
producers accounted for 1,212 kilograms (Gécamines's
production was
negligible). In 1988 Okimo awarded contracts worth US$14
million to
a Brazilian firm and the United States subsidiary of a
British firm
for rehabilitation of two potentially highly productive
mines.
These contracts were expected to result in increased
output in the
1990s, but in fact production continued to drop as the
economy
deteriorated. Production was estimated at only 225
kilograms in
1990.
Data as of December 1993
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