The complexiTy of resource governance in a conTexT of sTaTe ... - Ipis

10 International Alert
In addition to mining sites, these maps show information on ownership, militia or army
involvement, the number of miners, mineral prices and other variables. Guidelines on their use
are available online at the same webpage. The following chapters build on these maps.
Difficulties encountered
Carrying out this kind of research posed serious challenges in the DRC, where a number of
difficulties required managing.
The first is the unreliability of existing data on the mining sector. Official records are replete
with inconsistencies, gaps and misinformation that make it impossible to paint a reliable and
comprehensive picture of the trade. This is a region-wide phenomenon. In attempts to analyse this
landscape, the one fact that analysts agree on is that there is no single, reliable source of accurate
data. 1 One of the major reasons is the omnipresence of illicit trade – particularly the trade in
gold, but also cassiterite, coltan and wolframite (tungsten ore) – along devious routes across the
hinterland. The few official statistics that do exist are not integrated between various government
offices due to communication and logistical challenges. Additionally, the paucity of registered
comptoirs (officially recognised trading and export houses) means only a limited amount of the
minerals mined and sold appear on official government records.
As a rule, all statistics on trade should be approached with a healthy degree of caution – which does not
mean they cannot be used. The data may not be sufficiently reliable to draw trustworthy conclusions,
but it can confirm certain trends when other information is also available. In individual chapters, the
available data is discussed and some specific examples of reliability problems are given.
A second challenge relates to field research in the DRC. Interviewees refer to many locations,
but they have rarely visited them and often cannot provide precise information on their location.
This is particularly true for mining sites. The names of some mining sites feature on lists provided
by the Division des Mines or the Service d’assistance et d’encadrement du small-scale mining
(SAESSCAM), but little or no information is available on their precise location. There are several
reasons for this: lack of centralised data collection by provincial authorities and mining agencies;
difficult access due to poor roads; and bouts of insecurity. The only way to address the problem is
by visiting the site with a GPS device, an approach the authors adopted as far as possible within
their timeframe constraints.
Related to the previous challenge is the problem of reaching very remote mining areas or mining
areas that are located in insecure areas. Local researchers acquainted with the region and its
people were able to travel relatively easy to areas an expatriate would rarely reach, but there
were a number of places that insecurity rendered off-limits even to them. For each of the three
hinterland areas, the text explains which sites not even the local researchers could visit.
A fourth challenge was the difficulty of measuring the relative importance of mining sites, which is
crucial to any analysis of the hinterland mining sector. Working with production figures provided
by the interviewees was not a reliable option. One cannot assess such information without
spending some significant time on each site in order to observe the production chain and to
speak to the various individuals involved. Interviewees may inflate production figures to attract
potential foreign investors and donors or, alternatively, they may lower them out of concern for
any potential increase in taxes or hostile commercial interest.
An alternative approach – comparing the number of artisanal miners at the different sites – was
used to produce more objective data. However, this method also has flaws. Estimates of miners
are difficult to obtain since they fluctuate according to a site’s profitability (driven by outside
1 Pact Inc. (June 2007) Researching Natural Resources and Trade Flows in the Great Lakes Region, DFID/USAID/COMESA, p. 5.