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

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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.
The complexity of resource governance in a context of state fragility: An analysis of the mining sector in the Kivu hinterlands 11 demand), the season (artisanal miners often combine mining with farming and petty trade) and personal circumstances (a miner may work for a specific end, such as paying school fees or hospital bills, and then abandon the activity). Thus, the estimates given to the research team may not be entirely accurate, although they provide some approximate measure of a specific mine’s production and the extent of the trade in a given area.
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International Alert. 346 Clapham Ro
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