As of April 16, 2025, Société Minière de Bakwanga (MIBA) has yet to resume diamond mining. The state-owned giant has been absent from production reports since mid-2024, putting at risk the ambitious targets announced last November by MIBA Chairman Jean-Charles Okoto.

“We want to produce one million carats per month in 2025,” Okoto told Belgian daily L’Écho, aiming for 12 million carats annually. This target is bold, given that the DRC produced 8.34 million carats last year, down from 10.78 million in 2022.

Okoto, appointed in November 2023, traveled to Europe in late 2024 seeking “new partners” to revive MIBA, which has struggled for over two decades. ASA Resource, which holds a 20% stake in the state-owned firm, pledged $50 million for the revival. 

Meanwhile, the DRC government, which owns 80%, approved a $70 million minimum recovery plan in August 2024. Last December, President Félix Tshisekedi announced that $50 million would be allocated for MIBA’s restart.

Yet, funds remain elusive. A report from the Kasaï Oriental governor’s office on April 8 reveals that the $50 million promised by the President has not yet been released. It’s also unclear if ASA Resource has fulfilled its contribution. The status of the recovery plan’s implementation remains undisclosed.

The $70 million plan, more modest than Okoto’s goals, targets 2.5 million carats by 2026. It calls for urgent debt restructuring, reducing liabilities, and convening an extraordinary shareholders' meeting.

MIBA’s Managing Director, André Kabanda Kana, has identified four South African companies—Bond Equipment, Mining Services, Athur Mining, and Consulmet—interested in supplying modern equipment to restart operations. These firms toured mining sites and should soon submit bids.

Rehabilitating the Lubilanji hydroelectric plant is also critical to resume production. Czech firm Seko, contracted a year ago for the project, announced on March 24 that work would start “shortly.”

Though a restart is still far off, local expectations run high. The Kasaï Oriental governorate calls MIBA’s revival “the wish of more than one Kasaïen.” Officials estimate that renewed operations could create up to 2,500 jobs.

Looking ahead, MIBA plans to diversify into gold, nickel, and chromium mining and expand into other provinces of the Greater Kasai region.

This article was initially published in French by Pierre Mukoko and Ronsard Luabeya (intern)

Edited in English by Ola Schad Akinocho