ON THE GROUND
A
lphamin Resources’ Bisie Tin Project
in the North Kivu province of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo
(DRC), is one of the most exciting new
developments in the mining industry. It does,
however, present a fair number of technical
and logistical challenges, while the social and
security risks remain a reality. Nevertheless,
with a grade of more than 4% tin, it would be
hard for punters not to back Bisie.
But even for investors hell-bent on a
high-risk, high-reward strategy, Bisie is bound
to cause sweaty palms and white knuckles
— and not only when sitting in the office
tracking the unpredictable tin price. The self-
doubt, hope, questioning, and queasiness are
markedly more pronounced when clutching
both armrests of your seat as the small plane
carrying 12 passengers (and a reconditioned
engine) angles in to land on the makeshift
airstrip in the village of Walikale, smack bang in
the middle of the Central African rainforest.
Alphamin recently invited a group of South
African journalists to join the management
team on an exhilarating, at times hair-raising,
and somewhat arduous journey deep into the
sweltering forests of North Kivu. And here lies
the dilemma for most of the praise singers,
risk takers, and Bisie-believers: the logistics of
making this project work. Just getting there is
difficult. It takes a flight from Johannesburg to
Kigali in Rwanda, a three-hour drive to Goma
(that includes a border crossing to the DRC),
another 40-minute flight to Walikale, and a final
bumpy, four-hour roller coaster 4 × 4 drive
to reach Alphamin’s base camp on a steep
hill overlooking the intimidating dark-green
patches of the gleaming forest. There is a hive
of activity, just beneath base camp, as Bisie
gears up in preparation for first tin production,
expected in 2019.
The hill at Bisie
The hill at Bisie has made international
headlines before, but for the wrong reasons.
Not too long ago, it was regarded as a symbol
of conflict minerals; a perfect example of what
could go wrong in a country ludicrously rich
in mineral resources, but without the means
to regulate its extraction and export. Over
the years, Bisie’s tin has sponsored many
dubious characters, dangerous rebels, and the
occasional insurgency and revolt. Only a few
years ago, thousands of artisanal miners toiled
in the hand-dug, man-sized tunnels, to make
a living by selling the raw product and paying
taxes to agents of various illegal entities.
“Bisie was a honeypot of surface-level
cassiterite. At one stage, there were 18
different illegal taxes that were collected by
government and armed groups,” says Richard
FEBRUARY 2018
17