LUBUMBASHI, Democratic Republic of Congo — In Manono, a town in the province of Tanganyika, in the northern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) Katanga region, a mining project has still not broken ground, more than two years after the confirmation of a sizeable lithium deposit...
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Disputed Manono lithium mining project in DRC sparks concern
DIDIER MAKAL
8 AUG 2024
AFRICA
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- A lithium mining project in the DRC that was expected to begin in 2023 is still pending.
- The Congolese government and mineral exploration company AVZ Minerals are fighting over the rights to an ore concession awarded to the Chinese company Zijin Mining.
- Delays are lengthening for residents waiting for jobs, and the local population has not yet been informed of how lithium mining will impact their environment.
LUBUMBASHI, Democratic Republic of Congo — In Manono, a town in the province of Tanganyika, in the northern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) Katanga region, a mining project has still not broken ground, more than two years after the confirmation of a sizeable lithium deposit. Lithium has been in high demand worldwide for about a decade for the production of lithium batteries — the best electrical energy storage system currently available. The prospecting of the Manono deposit has brought hope that infrastructure such as roads will be developed and jobs will be created for local residents.
Thus far, agriculture has remained the primary economic activity in Manono and the surrounding region. Young people, however, are turning away from farming in a quest to earn quick money. They climb down into hand-dug, underground galleries looking for cassiterite, another popular mineral in the electronics industry, in demand among Indian and Chinese buyers, who have established trading posts on site.
An artisanal miner in North Kivu holds cassiterite crystals, from which tin can be extracted: young people in Manono also dig for this mineral to sell to traders. Image by Laura Heaton/Enough Project via
Flickr (
CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).
“This conflict is affecting us. We are waiting for the [lithium] mining project to develop Manono,” said Dieumerci Kabila, a local radio journalist and civil society activist living in the town, regarding the impact of the conflict on the community.
A public company named Zaïretain operated a tin mine in Manono until 1982, after which activity dwindled gradually to
a complete halt in 1998 with the Second Congo War, when armed rebel forces from Rwanda and Uganda rose up against Laurent-Désiré Kabila (1939-2001). Several private companies have also bought rights to mining sites on the deposits owned by the public company, whose name has since changed to Cominière.
AVZ estimates the Manono Lithium Project’s total mineral resources at 400 million tons, and the project has brought hope for the economic revival of Manono, which declined with Zaïretain’s closure.
Workers conducting exploratory drilling on the Manono concession. Image by
AVZ (
Fair Use).
Core samples from the Manono concession. Image by
AVZ (
Fair Use).
AI also revealed that Zijin had recently committed $70 million to humanitarian aid projects for victims of violence in the eastern DRC through the joint venture Manono Lithium. However, only $40 million was received by the recipient, an NGO named Le Bouclier, the rest having vanished, according to AI, from an unidentified transitional account. According to the same source, the president of the NGO, Jean-David E’ngazi, has been on the board of directors of Cominière, Manono Lithium’s other joint owner, since 2023.
The Manono concession area. Image and map courtesy
AVZ (
Fair Use).
Environmental impacts yet to be assessed
According to the journalist, Kabila, and Cyprien Kitanga, the administrator of the territory of Manono, an environmental impact assessment of the mine has yet to be conducted; nevertheless, all that is pending for Dathcom is its lithium mining permit. The same goes for Manono Lithium, whose research is advertised as very far along.
But according to Kabila, who has been following the lithium project’s evolution, a cahier de charges, an agreement between the company and the affected communities, hasn’t been developed either. “People [civil society activists] need training” to better understand the future environmental issues related to mining, Kabila said.
Kitanga isn’t aware of any environmental impact assessment, either, although the studies are a prerequisite for opening any mining project. “The company is not acting in good faith,” Kitanga said. He also noted how the wait is drawing out for local residents, and there aren’t even steps being taken to “win the people’s confidence” and reassure them about the mining project.
However, Célestin Kibeya, Cominière’s actingmanaging director, guaranteed on a call with Mongabay the study has been done and should be
published on the company’s website in May. (As of Aug. 7, it had not yet appeared.) As for when operations will start, he said, “The feasibility study results must first be approved” by the Ministry of Mines.
A version of this article was originally published on our French website on 8 May 2024 as Inquiétudes sur les retombées du lithium de Manono en RDC
