The aim of this research project was to gain a better understanding of the socio-economic impact of artisanal and small-scale mining in eastern DRC. Breaking away from the dominant tendency among many donors, civil society groups and academics to reduce artisanal mining to a conflict-ridden economic activity, a business characterized by violence, insecurity, chaos and plunder, this project aimed to produce a more balanced picture of the Kivutian artisanal mining sector by embarking on an in-depth investigation of changing systems of land tenure and emerging centres of urbanity, two phenomena closely tied up with ASM.

Funding Source: FWO-Flanders

Staff involved: Jeroen Cuvelier