A large American company mining Tin/Tantalum has resumed its operations in Walikale, North Kivu, after the M23 withdrew its troops from the area a few days ago.
Tin/Tantalum is a type of precious metal used by many industries around the world, and it is utilized in the production of various items.
As it was explained, tin/tantalum was scarce in the international market while the M23 controlled Walikale, but Alphamin Resources Corp, one of the largest American companies mining tin/tantalum in the DRC, announced that it has resumed its operations to open its mines located in Bisie, Walikale.
Last month, Alphamin Resources Corp temporarily halted operations in its Bisie mines due to the M23’s advance towards Walikale center, which is 65 km from Bisie to the northwest.
In its statement on Wednesday, Alphamin Resources Corp stated that M23 had moved its fighters from Walikale to areas located 130 km away from its mines, thus allowing it to resume its mining and processing activities for precious metals and their sales in the international market.
Last week, the M23 group issued a statement saying it had withdrawn from Walikale as it had previously announced in order to pave the way for peace talks between itself and the Kinshasa government, with discussions scheduled to take place in Doha, Qatar.
Reports indicate that tin/tin prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME) fell by 8.3% for one ton of tin on Wednesday.
The Walikale Territory is known to be rich in various minerals, particularly Tin/Tantalum.
This Tin/Tantalum is said to be a special metal with a silvery-white color, easily malleable, used to make various items such as: “Telephone batteries, car parts, roofing, alloys with other metals, medical devices, electric vehicles, solar panels, and more.
The British news agency, Reuters, reported that the United States has been requesting that tin/tin mining activities do not cause harm.
It also mentions that this was a major topic of discussion in Kinshasa between President Felix Tshisekedi and President Donald Trump’s senior advisor during his visit to the country last week.
From January of this year until this week, the tin mining company reports that it has exported 4,500 tons of tin to the international market, and that another 280 tons are on the way.
Last year, the mines of these precious minerals in Bisie, Walikale extracted 17,300 tons of tin/tin, which accounts for 6% of all tin/tin sold globally.
Opponents of the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo criticize the state of this country for the extraction of valuable minerals in the western part of the country and in the DRC as a whole, claiming that it does not benefit the country and its citizens.
