Struggles over value: corporate–state suppression of locally led mining mechanisation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Abstract

The analytical framework deployed by the extensive Global Value Chain (GVC) literature on African mining fails to consider how and from whom value is transferred within the process of establishing foreign corporate-led mining GVCs, and with what consequences. We explore these questions through a case study of the gold value chain in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In this context, we argue that a coalition between transnational capital and the Congolese state has marginalised and held back locally-led processes of capital accumulation and mining mechanisation.Based on the findings, the developmental potential of domestically embedded networks of African production is highlighted.

Social policies driven by labour scarcity: colonial social policies in the concession economies of the United Nation subregion Middle Africa and their legacy

“…It could also become more important if the focus shifted from the extraction of resources to their local transformation. The degree of mechanisation also has an effect; the best option for local employment would probably be limited and locally led mechanisation (see for example Radley and Geenen, 2021). Regarding plantations, the cash crop economies of West Africa have shown that free small-scale farming can be an efficient alternative that has the potential to generate relevant income (Cooper, 1996).…”

A Regenerative Business Model with Flexible, Modular and Scalable Processes in A Post-Covid Era: The Case of The Spinning Mesh Disc Reactor (SMDR)

“…Local producers in the Global South, often overpowered by the interests of transnational corporations and governmental pressures could therefore have easy access to such technology. For example, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a coalition between transnational capital and the Congolese state has held back locally led processes of mining mechanisation [30]. Access to simple, modular, and regenerative technology such as SMDR could empower local producers to process and scale-up mining output locally.…”

Class formation and capital accumulation in the countryside: Artisanal and small‐scale gold mining in South Kivu, DR Congo

“…Radley & Vogel, 2015 for a critique of this “conflict minerals” paradigm). The focus here and in the sections that follow is instead and deliberately placed on the Congolese workers, managers, and traders operating locally, predominantly at and around the mines, and who, in the case of gold, capture around 90–95% of the total value generated by productive activity (Radley & Geenen, 2021, p. 166).…”

“…361–362). As documented by Radley and Geenen (2021), by deploying the Congolese state's judicial and security apparatus to protect its deposits, Banro has acted to repress and undermine ASGM mechanization efforts, including by cutting down electricity pylons and having the mining authorities appropriate many of the ball mills in operation in Kamituga and ban their use in the corporation's most strategically valuable deposits. This recalls one of the major findings from MacGaffey's (1987, p. 213) earlier ethnography of local class formation and struggle in Kisangani and North Kivu of the DRC that “so far the state has certainly not played a crucial role in assisting the formation of the local capitalist class and mediating its relationship with foreign capital.” On the contrary, in the case of ASGM in South Kivu more than 30 years later, the state has functioned to actively undermine and repress the aspirations and trajectory of this local capitalist class.…”

“…361-362). As documented by Radley and Geenen (2021), by deploying the Congolese state's judicial and security apparatus to protect its To summarize, ASGM in Luhwindja has accentuated pre-existing social differentiation locally by providing an opportunity for those from relatively wealthy rural backgrounds to accrue significant profits from gold trade and production and for upward social mobility. This group of trader-managers might be considered a capitalist class, making the initial investment to finance shaft construction, mobilizing and organizing labour in production, owning the means of production, and productively reinvesting profits, including in mechanization.…”