Democratic Republic of Congo

Democratic Republic of Congo is Africa’s second top producer of diamond although the exact amount of diamond mined is unknown because it is mostly mined in an unofficial bodies and unlawful miners. Congo is a nation with plenty of diamond deposits in almost all round the country and, only a considerably small area has been explored with modern technology. The country diamond are known to the world as conflict, hot and blood diamonds.
Democratic Republic of Congo diamond mining started in the nineteenth century; back then the nation was called Belgian Congo, and diamonds were mined in a war zone area and sold to finance an upheaval, invading armies, rebels, and militantman activities.
Most of the diamond mines are situated along the rivers of Bushimaie and Lubilash where the mines like Bakwanga and Bckwa Bowa are situated. There is also Forminiere diamond mine located near the Tshikapa River.

In 2013, the country produced around 12.2 million karats of diamonds worth approximately $139.5 million. The country’s wealth has, however, come at a cost of the high diamonds production. The Democratic Republic of Congo has the largest diamond reserves on the continent. However, in 2018, production was around 16.390 million carats of diamonds. According to Kimberly Process statistics, production in 2019 was 6.335 million carats of diamonds.
The main mines in operation are those of Mbuyi Mayi, Bakwanga and Forminière. The diamonds are mined by La Minière de Bakwanga (the country’s mining company) and the Sino-Congolese company Sacim.
The diamond mines are controlled by MIBA, the Societe Miniere de Bakwanga. The MIBA is an organization which is owned by the state, but one fifth of the investment is given to the foreign firms such as Sibeka with 20% owned by former Umicore subsidiary Sibeka, which in turn is owned by Mwana Africa plc, which operates the mines.

The diamond mining business is very lucrutive one in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the country has over $22 trillion estimated in unexplioted natural minerals and is the center of the world’s diamond source. Most of the Congolese are employed in this sector, which is unofficially controlled and they live off of what they extract.