Mineral potential facing socio-economic development challenges: case study of the democratic republic of Congo, a ‘geological scandal’

Despite its numerous mineral resources, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) finds itself ranked among the poorest nations in the world, which fuels the paradox of ‘richer but poorer’. This work aims to highlight the relationship between the evolution of the mining sector and the economic growth of the country in order to respond to this paradox while formulating some recommendations for the sustainable development of the country. To do this, we acquired data from the annual reports of the mining cadastre and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative which we used to evaluate the evolution of the mining sector. Fraud, corruption, and mining smuggling are at the root of the shortfalls experienced by the Congolese government, but also the lack of appropriate tools and technologies for the local processing of natural resources in order to give them added value. To achieve concrete results for the sustainable development of DR Congo, the ministry of mines will have to act through its technical services for the control of the mining sector in order to resolve all the problems. It will also be important to implement a circular economy policy to maximize revenue.