DR Congo says to lift eastern mining ban March 10

Democratic Republic of Congo will lift the mining ban on March 10 which it imposedtac dung cua vonfram on its eastern provinces last September to cut off funding to armed groups, Mines Minister Martin Kabwelulu said on Tuesday. The September 11 ban on mining activities and exports applied to North Kivu, South Kivu and Maniema -- areas rich in gold, tin ore cassiterite, and hi-tech mineral coltan.

"We have lifted the ban because we've seen the situation on the ground. The changes we were putting in place have been accomplished, notably the deployment of agents to check on traceability, and equally the certification of stockpiles is in place," Kabwelulu told journalists. Local industry and analysts had attacked the ban as having left millions of dollars' worth of tin ore stuck in the zone affected by conflict, putting thousands of people out of work. "If the goal was to restructure the mining sector in the east to cut out armed groups, that has clearly not happened," independent New York-based analysts Jason Stearns said...