Highlights:
• Twangiza Mining not listed among DRC gold producers since 2021
• Q1 2025 industrial gold output reached 5.9 tons, led by Kibali Gold
• Company’s claim of recent activity contrasts with official data and long absence

Twangiza Mining announced on May 8 that it was suspending operations. However, the move will have no impact on the Democratic Republic of Congo’s official gold production figures. Why? Because the company has been off the country’s official list of gold producers since 2021.

In the first quarter of 2025, official industrial gold output in the DRC reached 5.9 tons. That total came from Kibali Gold (5.86 tons), MCCR (18.6 kilograms), Kimia Mining Investment (4.9 kilograms), and Sokimo (4.6 kilograms). Twangiza Mining was not listed.

Official records show that Twangiza disappeared from the national gold producer registry in 2021. One year earlier, Banro—the Canadian company that had operated the Twangiza mine since 2012—sold its stake to minority shareholder Baiyin International Investments for a symbolic one Congolese franc.

By the time of the sale, Twangiza’s output had dropped sharply due to repeated attacks by armed groups. Production fell from nearly 5 tons in 2015 to 3.4 tons in 2018, then to 1.3 tons in 2019, and finally dropped to zero in 2020.

Yet when the company announced its recent suspension, CEO Chao Xianfeng stated that Twangiza had resumed operations in recent years. He said the company had halted activity again due to conflict with M23 rebels and their Rwandan allies, who have controlled the mine since May 2025. That would suggest the company was active at least during Q1 2025, but no output was reported.

The situation has drawn more scrutiny, especially following recent remarks by South Kivu Governor Jean-Jacques Purusi Sadiki. On April 2, speaking before the Foreign Affairs Committee of the French National Assembly, he alleged that at least 1,600 companies are illegally exploiting mineral resources in eastern Congo. Many of them, he added, are backed by Chinese capital and are allegedly smuggling gold to Middle Eastern countries, including Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia.

Reported by Pierre Mukoko and Boaz Kabeya, intern