Defusing the social minefield of gold sites in Kamituga, South Kivu. From legal pluralism to the re-making of institutions?

DRC's 2002 Mining Code has attracted Large-Scale Mining (LSM) through favorable fiscal conditions, but is detrimental to Artisanal and Small-scale Mining (ASM). The Code specifies that ASM should take place in Artisanal Exploitation Zones (AEZ), but far too few AEZ were created to accommodate the large number of artisanal miners. This has triggered an explosive situation, as many artisanal miners operate in mining concessions granted to LSM companies. While LSM companies justify their operations referring to statutory law, miners claim traditional rights to the land. We study how this situation of legal pluralism plays out in Kamituga, a gold mining area in South-Kivu. To what extent do the artisanal miners and the LSM company stick to their opposing frames of reference? To what extent do they look for compromises? Can these compromises give way to the re-making of institutions?