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Natural Resources

Congo is potentially rich because of its mineral resources. These are the most important raw materials:

  • Diamond, in the centre and east of the country;
  • Gold, in the eastern and north-eastern provinces;
  • Coltan, in the northeast and east of Congo. Coltan is an important raw material used in mobile telephones and laptops;
  • Hardwood: Congo has the largest hardwood reserves in Africa;
  • Oil and gas, along the Atlantic coast, at Lake Albert on the border with Uganda, and at Lake Kivu on the border with Rwanda.

Cobalt mine, Kolwezi (photo: J.P. Muteba)
There are large reserves of copper and cobalt in the southern province of Katanga. Cobalt is important to the military and civil industry. The Congolese soil contains one-third of the world’s reserves of this raw materials. Other minerals found in Katanga include: zinc, silver, uranium, magnesium, lead and germanium (this last mineral is important to the fibreglass industry).


To ensure that natural resources in DR Congo make a contribution to peace and development, more up-to-date information is required. That is why Fatal Transactions organised an expert meeting in Brussels on 23 and 24 November 2005.




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External link:

Final Recommendations DRC Conference by Saskia Van Hoyweghen