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/ 5 January 2006

DRC’s mineral wealth as coveted as ever

A ragged gold miner dives into a chocolate-coloured pool of sludge, resurfacing minutes later with a handful of stones containing slivers of gold ore. He and others like him earn about R925 a month selling the gold dust that they get by smashing the rocks to middlemen in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The illegal exploitation of the DRC’s gold resources is of pressing concern on the political front, however.