Tens of thousands of artisanal miners driven out of the Kamilombe mine in Lualaba: Is this the right path towards formalisation?
November 10, 2026The Congolese government has recently taken several initiatives as part of its plans to reform its mining sector. In October 2026, the authorities decided that tens of thousands of artisanal miners had to leave the artisanal copper and cobalt mine of Kamilombe near Kolwezi, the capital of the Congolese province of Lualaba. This case raises some doubts about whether the DRC’s mining development app
Realities of artisanal and small-scale copper and cobalt mining in Lualaba province, DRC
September 25, 2026To better understand the copper and cobalt ASM sector and its challenges, IPIS collaborated with the Congolese mining service SAEMAPE and the Kolwezi-based civil society organization IBGDH, to map 51 ASM sites in Lualaba province and interview key mining stakeholders. The study examines production, supply chain actors and trade practices, interference of armed actors and the challenging coexistenc
Infrastructure, extraction, and accountability around the Lobito Corridor in southern DRC
December 3, 2025Geopolitical framing of the Lobito Corridor The Lobito Corridor aims to connect the port of Lobito (Angola) to mineral-rich provinces of Haut-Katanga and Lualaba in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as well as the Zambian Copperbelt through a combination of rehabilitated and newly constructed rail infrastructure. Although not a new initiative, the project became a flagship of the
