A 2008 study by Promines, an international nonprofit, estimated that there are 450,000 to 500,000 people working as artisanal miners in Congo's four largest mining provinces. The same study speculated that 40 percent of Congo's artisanal miners are children, although observations from GlobalPost visits to mining sites in the region would put it closer to 20 percent.
Today, artisanal mining — also known as "subsistence mining" or "independent mining" — is believed to be the nation's single largest sector of employment. It is the way an estimated 7 to 14 percent of the Congolese working-age population earns a living. But it is also notorious for employing those whom it perhaps shouldn't.
Patrick Bwana strains his body as he thrusts a full-sized shovel into a patch of rocky ground. He is 12 years old. He looks 9. He speaks with his eyes fixed on the ground. "I used to go to school, but my father died, and no one paid for my studies anymore," he says.
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