Plant Equipment and Hire February 2018 | Page 20

ON THE GROUND Lake Kivu on the border between Rwanda and the DRC. To get to Bisie, take a flight to Kigali, drive to Goma in the DRC, cross the border, fly to Walikale, and hop onto a 4  ×  4 for a four-hour drive to Bisie. 18 Robinson, managing director of Alphamin Bisie Mining. According to Robinson, there were, at times, five armed groups involved, and so much money that it corrupted the Congolese security services. Therefore, corrupt elements were supporting different groups of artisanal miners and illegal co- operatives. Robinson says that at one stage, there were as many as 15  000 artisanal miners working the hill. “Today, there are less than 400,” says Robinson. Alphamin embarked on a relentless programme of negotiation and compromise to ensure peace returns to the area, and although platoons of armed security personnel and police still guard its operation (and visitors), it feels safe at Bisie. What CEO Boris Kamstra and his team, led by Robinson and chief operating officer Trevor Faber, have achieved up to now, is nothing short of astounding. They hacked and built a road through almost impenetrable forest, dealt with the artisanal and security concerns, and, against all odds, are busy constructing a mine, which is on track to produce the highest-grade tin product in the world, in time, as promised. Security is still a concern in the eastern part of the DRC, and an armed police officer guards each vehicle in the convoy to Bisie. Workers from the local community are working on the excavation of the horizontal ventilation shaft at Bisie. Richard Robinson, a born Congolese and managing director of Alphamin Bisie Mining, has done a sterling job in keeping all the stakeholders in Walikale happy. FEBRUARY 2018