Keep gold miners out of gorilla country!

Gorillas, chimpanzees, forest elephants – the biodiversity of Itombwe Nature Reserve in DR Congo is amazing. And it’s there – of all places – that Banro, a Canadian company, is planning a gold mine. We fear the worst for nature and local people, but Banro is deaf to criticism. It’s time to ratchet up the international pressure.

Call to action

For years, primates in the eastern Congo Basin have been retreating into a shrinking habitat. The growing human population is crowding into wilderness spaces and hunters are killing apes for the “bushmeat” trade. Protection measures are made difficult and dangerous by militias – which also deter wildlife enthusiasts who would otherwise provide a badly-needed source of revenue. The Grauer’s gorilla (Gorilla beringei ssp. Graueri), a subspecies of the eastern lowland gorilla, is on the brink of extinction.

And now, gold: as if the situation were not dire enough, Banro, a Canadian gold mining company, was discovered to be exploring the Itombwe Nature Reserve, one of the last retreats of Grauer’s gorillas in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Locals photographed the company's helicopters in June 2018 and informed the authorities.

Since the mid-1990s, Banro has secured mining concessions covering more than 2,600 square kilometers in the Congo and has been operating gold mines in Twangiza and Namoya for several years. Local people have complained of human rights violations such as land grabbing and evictions.

In 2014, Banro pledged not to encroach on the Itombwe Nature Reserve. That promise seems to be a thing of the past, however, now that the current government is prioritizing resource exploitation over conservation. In May 2018, President Joseph Kabila even opened Virunga and Salonga – two internationally renowned national parks and UNESCO World Heritage sites – to oil and gas drilling.
 
Local environmentalists have sounded the alarm, protested against gold mining and drafted a declaration, but to no avail. They are now calling for international support. Please speak out for the protection of the gorillas – their fate matters to us all.
 
Tell Banro to abandon its plans for a gold mine in Itombwe.

Back­ground Letter