Lualaba: With No Buyers for Their Minerals, Artisanal Miners Take to Kolwezi’s Streets Again

Artisanal miners demonstrated again in Kolwezi on October 26 after nearly a week of tensions, particularly in the Mutoshi and Kasulo neighborhoods. Gunshots were heard, tires were burned, and shops and schools remained closed as security forces held back demonstrators. The miners say they have nowhere to sell their minerals and oppose being required to use the Musompo trading center and the CEEC’s assessment procedures. At Kamilombe, miners were due to leave the site on Monday for a replacement site about 35 kilometers away under an agreement providing for bank payments for minerals already extracted and those from active pits.