Impacts, benefits and sustainable risk management

Since its discovery in 1903, gold has done more harm than good to the Congolese. The Belgian administration financed its conflict against colonial Germany with gold and diamonds from the DRC, something that established the historical basis for the current notion of "conflict minerals. Gold production at Kilo Moto also kept the colonial treasury in good standing with its international creditors. Gold mining has been and is linked to painful human rights abuses. Villagers have been beaten, raped, and killed, while entire villages have been burned when traditional leaders do not provide enough workers for the gold mines. In the post-independence period. Gold has been mismanaged and the state gold mines have collapsed. In the last two decades gold has been used by rebel groups and armed militias to fuel conflict. In recent years, as stability has improved in the east of the country, investment has begun to return to the gold sector with large amounts of capital.