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Mining camps impact gorillas mainly through logging activities
and through bushmeat hunting to supply workers, sometimes
even slaves, with food. An NGO, Global Witness, has accused
several companies, such as THAISARCO, the world’s fifth-
largest tin-producing company, owned by British metals giant,
AMC, of buying minerals from the conflict zone. THAISAR-
CO’s main supplier, Congo-based Panju, sells cassiterite and
coltan from mines controlled by the FDLR, according to Global
Witness. Another company is the UK-based Afrimex, already
found by the British government in 2008 to be in breach of
the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises for buying
from suppliers who made payments to a rebel group.
MINING IN GORILLA FORESTS – COLTAN,
CASSITERITE, DIAMONDS, GOLD, COBALT
AND URANIUM
Figure 10:
Mining and deforestation.
Luberu
Butembo
Beni
Lebla
Kibera
Mabana
Kenia
Maperanza
Teturi
Kakova
Forest
Agricultural or non-forest land
Known gold deposit
Deforestation monitored with
satellites between 2000 to 2007
Virunga National Park
Source: IES, Mining, forest change and conflict in the
Kivus, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, 2008.
10 Km
DEMOCRATIC
REPUBLIC OF
CONGO
UGANDA
RWANDA
Mining the forest