DR Congo steps up security at uranium mine for WWII bombs

Authorities in DR Congo say they will strengthen security against illegal mining in a pit that supplied uranium for the bombs dropped by the United States on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

Illicit miners have entered the Shinkolobwe mine in the southeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in search of cobalt and copper which sell for high prices, according to a local activist.

Uranium, in small quantities and locked in copper ore, is also found in the Shinkolobwe mine, located 150 kilometers (95 miles) north of Lubumbashi.

Owned by state mining giant Gécamines, Shinkolobwe supplied most of the uranium ore used to make the “Little Boy” and “Fat Man” bombs – and was officially shut down in 1960.

However, “clandestine mining” continues, said Paul Kisimba, a human rights activist in Likasi, 30 km from the mine.

“We informed the authorities about it in June,” he told AFP by telephone.

“All the security agents who were deployed to monitor the mine did not do their job, whether it was the FARDC (armed forces), the police or the Gécamines guards,” he said.

The guards, he said, “are the first people to let informal diggers in at night in exchange for a bribe.”

“They justify this by saying that they lack food, that the authorities do not regularly provide them with food,” he added.

Kisimba’s warnings about the lack of security at the mine prompted a meeting last week between local officials, and Haut-Katanga province’s Minister of Mines, Georges Mawine, visited the site on Monday.

“We are here to launch a study, to see how many fences will be built to prevent illegal mining,” he told reporters.

Several cameras will be installed to provide additional surveillance and security personnel will be beefed up, he added.

Mawine also said his service recently intercepted three minibuses loaded with copper and cobalt ore that were allegedly unearthed at Shinkolobwe.

“An investigation is underway” to confirm whether this is the case, he said, adding that nearby legal mines were also operating.

Informal mining is common and often fatal in the DRC.

Safety is poor, risk taking is high, and children are often exploited to provide work.

But figures indicating the extent of the problem are sketchy, given that many mines are illegal and remote.