刚果民主共和国矿业部长暂停了负责监管手工采矿业的官员的职务，该国政府正试图遏制在国际投资者持有的铜钴特许权区内的未经授权作业。
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s mines minister suspended the official in charge of overseeing the artisanal mining sector, as the government tries to curb unauthorized operations on copper-cobalt concessions held by international investors.
据彭博新闻看到的一项法令，矿业部长路易斯·瓦图姆于10月21日免去了让-保罗·卡蓬戈·卡迪奥博的职务，后者是法语缩写为SAEMAPE的机构的总经理。该命令称，他未能阻止在其他公司获分配的许可区内发生“非法手工采矿”。
Mines Minister Louis Watum removed Jean-Paul Kapongo Kadiobo as director general of the agency known by the French acronym SAEMAPE on Oct. 21, according to a decree seen by Bloomberg News. The order said he failed to prevent “illicit artisanal mining” within permits assigned to other firms.
这一决定出台前不久，约300名在刚果铜矿带工作的中国公民在一次打击非法采矿的行动中被拘留。彭博新闻于10月16日报道了这些逮捕事件，逮捕主要发生在科卢韦齐市周边。
The decision comes shortly after about 300 Chinese nationals working in Congo’s copper belt were detained as part of a crackdown on illegal mining. Bloomberg reported the arrests, which took place mostly around the city of Kolwezi, on Oct. 16.
在这个两种金属常常共生的中非国家，中国采矿和加工企业占据了铜和钴产量的大部分。
Chinese mining and processing companies account for most copper and cobalt production in the central African country where the two metals are often found together.
SAEMAPE是负责监督并使手工和小规模采矿正规化的政府机构，该国是世界第二大铜供应国和电池材料钴的最大来源国。据当地媒体报道，该机构在卢阿拉巴省的负责人也被停职，科卢韦齐是该省首府。
SAEMAPE is the government body responsible for supervising and formalizing artisanal and small-scale mining in the world’s second-biggest copper supplier and top source of battery material cobalt. The provincial head of the agency in Lualaba, of which Kolwezi is the capital, was also suspended, according to local media reports.
洛阳钼业、嘉能可和紫金矿业集团等外国公司生产了刚果的大部分铜和钴。但手工采矿部门为数十万当地人提供了生计，这些人通常在工业采矿公司持有的许可证范围内作业——有时受到武装部队成员的庇护。
Foreign companies such as CMOC Group Ltd., Glencore Plc and Zijin Mining Group Co. Ltd. produce most of the copper and cobalt in Congo. But the artisanal sector provides livelihoods for hundreds of thousands of local people who typically operate – sometimes protected by members of the armed forces – inside licenses held by industrial mining firms.
根据瓦图姆的命令，卡蓬戈·卡迪奥博被停职的原因是“违规安插”SAEMAPE的征税人员进入采矿许可区，而手工采矿者正在这些区域内未经许可作业。卡蓬戈·卡迪奥博没有立即回复寻求置评的电话和电子邮件。
Kapongo Kadiobo was suspended for having “irregularly installed” SAEMAPE tax collectors inside mining permits in which artisanal miners were working without permission, according to Watum’s order. Kapongo Kadiobo didn’t immediately respond to phone calls and emails seeking comment.
政府为减少特定特许区内的手工作业，或检查矿产加工厂所做的努力，可能引发当局与矿工之间的紧张关系。据当地媒体报道，上周在科尔韦齐周边的抗议活动中，矿工设置路障、焚烧轮胎，并与警察发生冲突。
Government efforts to reduce artisanal activity in particular concessions or inspect the plants processing the minerals can lead to tensions between the authorities and miners. In protests last week around Kolwezi, miners erected barricades, burned tires and clashed with the police, according to local media reports.
卢阿拉巴省省长菲菲·马苏卡于10月21日表示，一个由国家首都金沙萨派出的多部门委员会已抵达科尔韦齐，旨在“净化我们的采矿环境”。据她发布的声明，该委员会的任务包括采矿区“去军事化”、审计加工厂，以及将手工矿工转移至授权区域。
A multi-agency commission sent from the national capital, Kinshasa, is in Kolwezi to “clean up our mining environment,” the governor of Lualaba, Fifi Masuka, said on Oct. 21. Its mission includes “demilitarizing” mining sites, auditing processing plants and transferring the artisanal workforce to authorized areas, according to her statement.
比利时国际和平信息服务局上月发布的一份报告指出，除了那些使用简陋工具挖掘矿石的人之外，手工采矿部门“近年来变得日益机械化”。报告称，这些作业涉及“破碎机和挖掘机等设备的使用日益增多，主要由外国投资驱动”。
Alongside those digging for ore with rudimentary tools, the artisanal sector “has become increasingly mechanized” in recent years, according to a report published last month by Belgium’s International Peace Information Service. These operations involve the “growing use of equipment such as crushers and excavators, largely driven by foreign investment,” IPIS said.
刚果政府于10月23日达成协议，同意让2万多名矿工离开一个名为卡米洛姆贝的知名矿区——该矿区位于国有企业Gecamines的许可证范围内——并迁往一个新设立的手工采矿作业区。
Congo’s government agreed to a deal on Oct. 23 for more than 20,000 miners to leave a well-known site called Kamilombe, which is in a license belonging to state-owned Gecamines, and move to a new area created for artisanal operations.