“We can only condemn in the strongest terms these awful acts which add to the list of thousands of victims of armed bandits in our province,” Governor Jean Bamanisa Saidi said, in a letter seen by Reuters dated April 8. Gold is mined by artisanal mining cooperatives, typically using rudimentary tools and techniques, in Ituri, which borders Uganda and South Sudan. Governor Bamanisa Saidi said most cooperatives and mining companies in the province do not report production figures, and minerals are illegally marketed, causing “massive fraud” of huge quantities of minerals. In one area of Ituri, 79 out of 85 gold trading houses have shut down because they have no one to sell to, research by Canadian natural resources NGO IMPACT found. SEE ALSO: 1,200-year-old ‘piggy bank’ with gold coins discoveredThis presents an opportunity for illicit gold buyers capable of buying low and selling high, and is likely to fuel insecurity in DRC, IMPACT said.

Source: Standard Digital April 11, 2020 08:15 UTC