Illegal mining is widespread throughout the mineral-rich country as close to 1 million individuals working on their own dig land that is in many cases privately owned, pitting them against foreign-owned firms and adding to investor woes in Congo's difficult business climate.
"On Monday illegal miners squatting on Tenke Fungurume blocked the route, vandalised their offices, stole their computers and burned three trucks, looting the copper cathodes in one of them," provincial interior minister Jean-Marie Dikanga told Reuters on Tuesday.