Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, IPIS closely monitors the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on 3T, Gold and Diamond mines and national supply chains in Tanzania, the Central African Republic (CAR) and the DR Congo. Through structured quantitative and qualitative data collection, IPIS measures the impact on a large amount of mining sites.
IPIS is working through its long-established network of local surveyors who conduct mobile phone surveys and/or have small meetings with local stakeholders between May and September 2020. All activities are executed in full compliance with IPIS’ COVID-19 policy and the applicable national travel restrictions.
This study aims to provide an insight into the socio-economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on artisanal and small-scale gold and diamond mining in the west of the CAR. In May 2020, IPIS teams in Bangui conducted a series of phone interviews targeting key informants covering 105 gold and diamond mines to collect information on minerals production, prices and illegal taxation. Out of the 105 mining sites surveyed, 60 are gold mining sites, 26 are diamond mining sites and 19 sites produce both gold and diamonds. To assess the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, this data is compared with data collected by IPIS in 2019 on the same 105 mines in western CAR.
The report is accompanied by an interactive Webmap presenting the results of the data collection. Click here to open it in a new tab or download the webmap fact sheet (pdf).
Finally, you can access the dataset on IPIS Open Data page.
This research is conducted with the support of the European Union.
