In conversation with
Richard Robinson:
working wonders in the DRC
The DRC holds a lot of hope, Richard Robinson tells Leon Louw.
A
lphamin Resources’ Bisie tin project in the eastern parts of
the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) will start
producing ore this year. Bisie is one of the highest-grade
tin mines in the world. The mine is located in an extremely volatile
region of the DRC, and the team had to negotiate with artisanal
miners, community interest groups, rebel forces, and soldiers
from the DRC and a number of neigbouring African countries
to establish the mine. Bisie is a good case study of how to bring a
mine, situated in a fragile state, into production. Richard Robinson,
managing director of Alphamin Bisie Mining, handled the social
and community issues and did a sterling job in ensuring the
sustainability of the project.
When African Mining first visited the Bisie project towards the
end of 2017, I interviewed Robinson to find out how exactly the
team pulled off such a major feat. More than a year later, the story
still makes for fascinating reading.
Richard, you have an interesting history and as I understand, you
were born in the DRC?
Yes, that’s right, but I am an American citizen. My parents were
American, and they settled in the DRC. I was born in the mining
region of Katanga in the south of the Congo and spent most of
my childhood there. I also lived and studied in the US and in a
number of other countries before briefly returning to the DRC
in 1997.In addition, I spent a number of years in South Africa
working on postdoctoral studies until I returned home for good in
2003 to do economic development work in Katanga.
The NGO that I was working for, partnered with some of the
first pioneering mining companies in Katanga, like Anvel, First
Quantum, and Tenke Mining. Tenke made me an offer and I
worked for them for about three years before being recruited by
the US Agency for International Development, which deals with
14 AFRICAN MINING MAY - JUNE 2019
conflict minerals. I met Boris Kamstra, CEO at Bisie, in 2012 and
started working on the project soon after.
What did you know about the project then?
Well, I knew it was a honeypot of surface-level cassiterite, which
created enormous issues relating to conflict minerals. At one stage,
there were about 18 different taxes collected by different entities and
armed groups. The armed groups were heavily involved in mining.
Do you know how many armed groups were involved?
There were probably about five armed groups. There were also
corrupt elements in the Congolese security services and the DRC
army. All these groups supported different artisanal miners. At that
stage, there were close to 15 000 artisanal miners on the Bisie hill.
So, what you are saying is that there were certain groups who
used artisanal miners to make money?
Yes, they financed and protected certain artisanal groups and then taxed
them. That was an important source of revenue for these people and is what
led to people lobbying for conflict-free minerals in this area. Alphamin put
in a lot of effort to proclaim the area a mineral-conflict-free zone.
You initially didn’t want to be part of the Bisie project; what
changed your mind?
The security dynamics in this part of the DRC improved. The United
Nations and South African peacekeeping force ended the Rwandan-
backed invasion in 2012 and 2013. At the same time, the governance
of the mining sector in the eastern part of the DRC improved, mostly
as a result of the introduction of Dodd Frank. Dodd Frank sent a clear
message to the authorities that if they do not clean up this sector, the
world would not buy their minerals. The government then decided to
embrace conflict-free traceability and due diligence. I also realised that
Alphamin had a team that really understood how to manage risks and
turn things around.
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