![](http://www.pbase.com/wm25burke/image/103170443.jpg")
Oh wait. Wrong Roland. Never mind.
Posted on 04/14/2013 5:22:04 PM PDT by Pan_Yan
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The rise in smuggling has helped sustain Congo's violent insurgencies. But it also now threatens to taint the precious metal, much like so-called "blood diamonds" from Africa did at the turn of the 21st century.
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Besides, gold smuggling is more lucrative, providing margins as high as 30% on sales. "I keep getting new orders every week," says Mr. Buzima, flipping through paperwork on his office table. "It's a changing environment and we have to follow suit."
The World Gold Council also is adapting, and last year the mining trade group published guidelines for miners to keep conflict gold out of the supply chain. Other industry groups and international organizations have issued similar guidelines for refiners, jewelers and others. The efforts follow in the footsteps of the so-called Kimberley Process governing the diamond trade, which some have credited with helping to stem the flow of precious stones from conflict zones.
Gold smuggled out of Congo poses a challenge to the industry, and any links to armed conflict "undermine" the precious metal's image with consumers, says Terry Heymann, director of the responsible-gold project of the World Gold Council.
Gold's 12-year rally has lost steam—it officially entered a bear market Friday, closing at $1,501 per troy ounce—but that hasn't slowed the Congolese trade. The country is believed to hold tens of millions of gold ounces but has been plagued by decades of turmoil. Individual prospectors have exploited the gap, and total production has nearly quadrupled over the past half decade, hitting an estimated 26 metric tons in 2012, according to Thomson Reuters GFMS, which tracks the gold market. Much of that gold gets smuggled out of the country.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
There are enough Congolese people left after the genocides to care?
</warren zevon>
“Africa’s problems are due largely to Africans.” - P.J. O’Rourke
Yes, but they've had help.
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