Central African Republic

In previous years, the CAR government has estimated that 10% of its population, or around 400,000 people, were ASM miners (World Bank 2008, 27). Others were more conservative, citing figures between 50,000 and 100,000 people (Chirico et al. 2010). Recent field studies have estimated figures between those extremes. A 2018 study funded by UNDP and UNICEF estimated 35,000 chefs de chantiers, or claim-holders, and 272,000 workers (Pennes, Moloto, and Betabelet 2018). A 2019 study by IPIS funded by USAID estimated conservatively between 150,000 and 200,000 miners (Jaillon and de Brier 2019, 16). While claiming that 10% of CAR’s population is a miner may be an exaggeration, it could be accurate if one counts miner dependents and mining-related peripheral activities. However, direct employment created by CAR’s ASM sector is likely between 150,000 and 300,000 people, based on the latest research available.

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Women’s direct participation in ASM varies by mineral and region. A 2018 UNICEF-UNDP study found that 17% of miners in the East are women compared to only 3% in the West (Pennes, Moloto, and Betabelet 2018). A 2019 IPIS study funded by USAID estimated a higher overall number of 28% of ASM miners being women, though did not disaggregate by mineral (Jaillon and de Brier 2019, 18). The USAID Artisanal Mining and Property Rights (AMPR) project, which focuses on diamond mines in Southwestern CAR, found that only 5% of claimholders (chefs de chantier) are women. These figures can mask the full role that women place in ASM in CAR, especially in the burgeoning gold sector. The IPIS 2019 study found, for example, that women were present on 82% of visited sites.

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The organization of miners in CAR is similar to other ASM producers. In the diamond sector, the term chef de chantier generally designates the artisanal miner, i.e., the person who has obtained the customary or legal mineral rights to a particular site. For smaller sites, the chef de chantier is usually the customary landowner; USAID AMPR’s survey of chefs de chantiers in the southwest found that 91% reported being the landowner (Ndongo and DeJong 2019, 18). Labor is either pre-financed and remunerated in shares of the winnings (ouvriers miniers) or is independent and paid daily or task-based wages (katamans). In the USAID AMPR survey, the average chef de chantier had 6 ouvriers miniers and 3 katamans. However, katamans is a relatively new phenomenon and only 44% of miners use them (Ndongo and DeJong 2019, 20). Because gold sites tend to be larger, the organization is often different, with a chef de puits or chef d’équipe who is a team leader working a shaft or pit on a site managed by a chef de chantier. The chef de chantier may be the landowner or may pay tribute to a chef de site. A typical team will have 6 to 10 members (Jaillon and de Brier 2019), which is slightly larger than the average diamond mining team.

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Diamond

Between 1961 and 2011, CAR exported on average 400,000 carats of diamonds each year (GoCAR 2020, 13), which makes the country one of the most important artisanal diamond producers worldwide. Indeed, while this volume is far less than countries like the DRC, the majority of CAR’s stones are gem quality, with an average per carat price of around $227 compared to DRC’s $16 according to Kimberley Process statistics in 2019 (Kimberley Process Statistics 2019). CAR’s diamond zones are located in two areas: the southwestern part of the country around the Carnot sandstone deposit and the eastern part of the country around the Mouka-Ouadda sandstone. Since authorizing the first buying house in 1961, CAR’s diamond supply chain has been organized around exporter-aggregators who pre-finance intermediate buyers called collecteurs who then pre-finance artisanal miners (chefs de chantiers) who pre-finance diggers (creuseurs). At any given time, there are around a dozen of these buying houses, but generally the largest 2 or 3 account for 90% of exports. This model of powerful exporters has helped the government capture the majority of production in the legal chain of custody, though smuggling has always existed in parallel.

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Gold

ASM gold is not a new phenomenon in CAR where up to a ton of gold was produced by colonial-era companies and since 1960 annual production has averaged roughly 60,000 kg. Reported annual national production reached an all-time high of 241,000 kg in 1990 and a record low of 7,000 kg in 2004 (CEICD).^[i] However, the current gold boom is a recent trend. Unlike diamond miners, many of whom have mined for generations, more than half of today’s gold miners started after 2014 (Pennes, Moloto, and Betabelet 2018). The shift is due to both push and pull factors, including the crisis in the diamond sector starting in 2013, the lack of trade restrictions in gold, technology and skill transfer from neighboring countries (like Cameroon and Chad), and the soaring international price of gold.

The current boom is reflected in legal exports which have more than doubled in the past 5 years to more than 350 kilos (GoCAR 2020, 11), though like the diamond sector, these exports reflect around 10% of actual estimated production of 2 to 5 tons per year (Pennes, Moloto, and Betabelet 2018, 34; Jaillon and de Brier 2019, 47). While production is small compared to other gold producing countries, the effects of the boom have been significant. In 2019, GoCAR’s mineral tax revenues from gold surpassed those of diamonds for the first time, and CAR’s identity as a diamond producer is starting to shift as gold exports pick up.

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The local and national economy of CAR benefits from the mining sector. Export earnings from mining have historically been as high as 40% — second only to the timber sector—and despite a recent drop-off in taxes, the sector is important for tax earnings for the Mining Ministry. Given its local economic linkages and lack of alternatives, mining has an even larger impact on local economies, contributing around USD 55 million directly and USD 80 million indirectly to the rural economy each year (Pennes, Moloto, and Betabelet 2018, 10). ASM makes important contributions to achieving the SDGs, including poverty reduction, employment and partnerships revitalization. However, major challenges include its links to armed groups and insecurity, plus its negative effects on the environment, health and education of children. Reform efforts underway can help minimize these challenges.

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CAR’s governance framework for ASM is often out of sync with realities on the ground, with key portions of the mining law rarely applied in practice, such as the issuance of artisanal mining licenses and designating artisanal mining zones (ZEA). Formalization efforts focus on punitive measures meted by the mining police (USAF) and awareness-raising around professional licenses (patentes) for miners and traders. Historically the government has relied upon powerful exporters to draw diamonds into the legal chain of custody. Today they are trying to replicate this model in gold through the category of refiners (fonderie), while also adapting to a more varied landscape of actors including mining cooperatives and semi-industrial operators.

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Mining Formalization Regulations (ASM Focus)

Since the 2013 crisis, the diamond sector has been increasingly informal. Miners do not have the capital to pay their licenses as financing has dried up. Buying houses have proliferated but do not have the capital or clout they once had and are competing with increasingly entrenched smuggling networks. The Kimberley Process Operational Framework for CAR adopted in 2016, which divides the country into “compliant” and “non-compliant” zones, is difficult to apply in practice. Moreover, the monitoring by the Kimberley Process holds CAR to the standard of its mining law rather than to how it was actually applied in practice prior to 2013. This has pushed the sector into increased informality.

The gold sector for its part is evolving rapidly and not always in coherence with the 2009 Mining Code, which was written at a time when gold production was mostly off the radar. The increased use of mining cooperatives and smelters by exporters are examples of how legal categories are coopted to create a viable pathway to market. For example, a typical gold exporter will register as a cooperative or as a refiner instead of a buying house, which is technically incorrect, but which nonetheless creates a formal pathway. These “workarounds” appear to be contributing to a new legal chain of custody in gold as formal exports continue to rise year upon year.

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Laws and Policy

2009 Mining Code (under revision as of 2021)

2009 Mining Regulation

2012 National Mining Policy (being updated as of 2021)

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