North kivu's SMB may face justice for "illegal mining title"

The Co-op of the Operators Operators operators of Masisi (COOPERAMMA S. A) lodged a complaint with the General of Goma against the the mining company (SMB) on Thursday, June 04, 2020.SMB is blamed for having obtained "illegal and irregular" mining titles to work in the of mining square in of territory in North Kivu.

" We have had labor conflicts for almost 25 years, and today the opinion must remember that the time is right for justice to address the problem and solve it in a short time. We encourage SMB to have obtained mining titles in an illegal way and in our complaint we also talk about the use of fake documents", said Vincent Zilimwabagabo, president of the COOPERAMMA.

The COOPERAMMA seeks from Congolese justice, the cancellation of SMB titles, which will lead to its fall and transfer of the mining mining square. In 2018, the Congolese Minister of Mines had judged the SMB titles of "legal and regular" while believing that it is the COOPERAMMA that should move out of the mining square of Rubaya in Masisi.

Today is the first time that the has attacked SMB titles after several other complaints to denounce human rights violations in the mine. SMB, for its part, denounces mining fraud attempted by the, accusations rejected by the latter.

The two companies that exploit coltan in North Kivu were bound by a MOU which ended in October 2019., which allowed the peaceful exploitation of ore in the of mining square, but since its expiration, several mining operators craft have been killed, others tortured in their opposition, as well as several mining fraud orchestrated.