A gold rush drawing thousands to a village in Congo¡¯s South Kivu province has driven authorities to ban mining there until more oversight is established, reported Reuters.?
A video shared on social media by freelance journalist Ahmad Algohbary shows villagers crowding the mountain in Luhihi, which is located in Congo¡¯s South Kivu province, following the discovery of the gold-rich area.
'A video from the Republic of the Congo documents the biggest surprise for some villagers in this country, as an entire mountain filled with gold was discovered! They dig the soil inside the gold deposits and take them to their homes in order to wash the dirt& extract the gold.' Algohbary wrote on Twitter while sharing the footage.
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There was a rush of diggers that it put a lot of pressure on the small village, said Venant Burume Muhigirwa, South Kivu Mines Minister. Due to the massive influx, the authorities were forced to ban mining in the village.??
The clip shows the locals using shovels and other tools to dig the ground in a bid to extract gold from the soil. Some were even seen using just their bare hands.?
Another video shows the locals washing the dirt off the precious metal and collecting them in metal containers.??
Subsistence mining - extracting minerals with rudimentary tools - is common across Democratic Republic of Congo. 'Artisanal' gold mining is quite common in the gold-producing east and northeast of the country.
According to the UN Group of Experts on the Congo, gold production in the Congo is systematically underreported and tonnes of the precious metal are smuggled into global supply chains through its eastern neighbours.