Banro calls again for force majeure in DRC

Unlike the recurring attacks by armed jihadists in Burkina Faso, the rebel groups that are making mining impossible for Banro Corp. in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are motivated more by commercial than religious reasons, CEO Brett Richards says. “They run artisanal mining activities in the country and they can generate substantial revenue,” Richards says of the well-organized and heavily armed groups. “They want to control the region, and they do not want Western mines being there — they want to operate in our pits, and they want to take back what we have.” Attacks against the company began in 2015 at its Namoya mine in the southern province of Maniema, and have continued each year since then. Last year, there were five serious attacks with casualties in the double digits. The perilous security situation between 2015 and 2018 meant that Namoya operated only 20-30% of the time during that period. Continue reading at The Northern Miner.