Reforming Mining Law

The Democratic Republic of Congo is endowed with immense mineral wealth. Its minerals include cobalt, copper, diamond, gold, iron, manganese, tantalum, tin, tungsten, and zinc. Yet the contribution of mineral abundance to the country’s economic development is poor. The Congolese mining sector was initiated in 1905 with the creation of OKIMO (Office des Mines d’or de Kilo Moto) and UMHK (Union Minière du Haut-Katanga). The rapid development of mining companies improved economic growth until 1973, when President Mobutu introduced a variety of inadequate economic policies, including zairianization and radicalization, that slowed down economic development. The actual mining code was adopted in 2002 to enhance a mining sector that already collapsed. This study suggests a variety of mechanisms and measures that are meant to energize the Congolese mining sector and, hence, allow the country to benefit entirely from its mineral abundance.

Originally published in 1987, John D. Leshy presents this scholarly study of the 1872 Mining Law as a legal treatise and history of mining in the West from the point of view of mineral exploration and production. This mining law governed the United States mining practice yet had never been changed. The Mining Law attempts to highlight the role of policy and government as well as the more obscure elements of the law which complicated mining practice in the eighties. This title will be of interest to students of Environmental Studies and policy makers.