"Strategies used by Ruashi Mining to avoid responsibility for human rights violations", 23 November 2021

Ruashi Mining, a subsidiary of the Chinese multinational Jinchuan Group, started mining copper and cobalt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2004, when the country opened its mining sector to private investors. The company took over a former mining site of the state-owned Gécamines, located in Ruashi, a locality in the city of Lubumbashi. [...] However, the nearby communities in Luano, Kawama and Kalukuluku never saw their expectations met. Instead, they were deprived of their most basic rights, including the right to property, a decent home, food, water, a healthy environment, and even life. Since the establishment of Ruashi Mining, they have been victims of expropriations and relocations, dispossessed of their fields, houses and plots of land without (fair) compensation. Crops in their fields are regularly destroyed by effluent overflowing from the tailings ponds, and houses have been severely damaged by tremors caused by explosions in the mine. At least one local resident has died as a result of mismanagement of explosives by Ruashi Mining. [...]