Congo's Conflict Gold

Gold from eastern Congo. The war in the Democratic Republic of Congo is fueled by a thriving gold trade today, with armed groups controlling mines and earning an estimated $50 million last year from selling gold and minerals. This gold is from a day's work at Kaniola mine. (Caption and image courtesy of Sasha Lezhnev/enoughproject.org)

This gold is from Langa Langa in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Every year, 11,000 pounds of gold are mined eastern Congo, and at a price of $15,000 per pound, the gold generates heavy profits for the armed groups. (Caption and image courtesy of Sasha Lezhnev/enoughproject.org)

Miners in eastern Congo work long days in exhausting conditions. They dig in deep shafts, in what one former miner told us to be "slave conditions." Children as young as seven are forced into these dangerous working conditions in order to help feed their families. (Caption and image courtesy of Sasha Lezhnev/enoughproject.org)

Once it is brought out from the mines, the gold is sifted out at a river by miners who are always under the watchful eyes of militants who control the mines. (Caption and image courtesy of Sasha Lezhnev/enoughproject.org)

Often, gold mines in the Congo are filled with child miners such as Patrice, 15, who started working at this mine when he was only eight years old. (Caption and image courtesy of Sasha Lezhnev/enoughproject.org)

The overwhelming majority of the profits from the gold trade go to the armed groups and their business partners. These profits are used to buy weapons to intimidate the local population. Miners such as these earn a very small percentage from the trade. (Caption and image courtesy of Sasha Lezhnev/enoughproject.org)

Armed groups control the majority of gold and minerals mines in eastern Congo, according to the UN, and force villagers to work as forced laborers in the mines. (Caption and image courtesy of Sasha Lezhnev/enoughproject.org)

Used in cell phones and laptop computers, the 3Ts: tin, tantalum, and tungsten are also sold profitably by armed groups in eastern Congo. Seen here is tin ore. (Caption and image courtesy of Sasha Lezhnev/enoughproject.org)

Gold and the 3Ts are often smuggled through illegal dealerships such as this one, because of the excessive bribes and taxes they would have to pay for maintaining officially registered companies. (Caption and image courtesy of Sasha Lezhnev/enoughproject.org)

Inside the gold dealerships, the miners bring their gold powder or ore, where it is weighed and tested. (Caption and image courtesy of Sasha Lezhnev/enoughproject.org)

From the dealerships, the gold and minerals are sold to one of 15 main buying houses. As of last December, several such dealerships were named by the UN as complicit in the conflict minerals trade. (Caption and image courtesy of Sasha Lezhnev/enoughproject.org)

From the Congo, the gold and minerals are smuggled across the border into Rwanda, Uganda, and Burundi through border checkpoints such as this one, a major Rwanda-Congo border crossing at Bukavu. (Caption and image courtesy of Sasha Lezhnev/enoughproject.org)

Behind these children, an entire village was burned by one of the main armed groups, the FDLR, as a means of intimidating the local population. The FDLR controls many mines in eastern Congo. (Caption and image courtesy of Sasha Lezhnev/enoughproject.org)

One in three women in eastern Congo have been raped. Women carry heavy loads to trade in town and are frequently raped by the armed groups, as a means of intimidation and control. (Caption and image courtesy of Sasha Lezhnev/enoughproject.org)