The

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...

's mineral resource endowment includes

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the Chemical stability, chemically stable form of car ...

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

graphite Graphite () is a crystalline form of the element carbon. It consists of stacked layers of graphene. Graphite occurs naturally and is the most stable form of carbon under standard conditions. Synthetic and natural graphite are consumed on large ...

ilmenite Ilmenite is a titanium-iron oxide mineral with the idealized formula . It is a weakly magnetic black or steel-gray solid. Ilmenite is the most important ore of titanium and the main source of titanium dioxide, which is used in paints, printing ...

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...

kaolin Kaolinite ( ) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4. It is an important industrial mineral. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen atoms to one octahedral ...

kyanite Kyanite is a typically blue aluminosilicate mineral, found in aluminium-rich metamorphic pegmatites and sedimentary rock. It is the high pressure polymorph of andalusite and sillimanite, and the presence of kyanite in metamorphic rocks generally ...

lignite Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible, sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35%, and is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat ...

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

manganese Manganese is a chemical element with the symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a transition metal with a multifaceted array of industrial alloy use ...

monazite Monazite is a primarily reddish-brown phosphate mineral that contains rare-earth elements. Due to variability in composition, monazite is considered a group of minerals. The most common species of the group is monazite-(Ce), that is, the cerium- ...

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...

rutile Rutile is an oxide mineral composed of titanium dioxide (TiO2), the most common natural form of TiO2. Rarer Polymorphism (materials science), polymorphs of TiO2 are known, including anatase, akaogiite, and brookite. Rutile has one of the highest ...

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...

tin Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal. Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...

, and

uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...

. Of these commodities, only diamond and gold were produced in 2006 -

subsistence farming Subsistence agriculture occurs when farmers grow food crops to meet the needs of themselves and their families on smallholdings. Subsistence agriculturalists target farm output for survival and for mostly local requirements, with little or no su ...

was the mainstay of the economy.Bermúdez-Lugo, Omayra
"The Mineral Industries of Central African Republic, Côte d'Ivoire, and Togo"
(PDF). ''2006

Minerals Yearbook The ''Minerals Yearbook'' is an annual publication from the United States Geological Survey. It reviews the mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-def ...

''.

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

(May 2008) . In 2006 the

World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and e ...

estimated that the mining sector accounted for about 7% of the

gross domestic product Gross domestic product (GDP) is a money, monetary Measurement in economics, measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjec ...

. Rough diamonds and timber were the country's leading export products.
However, in December 2014, the

U.S. Department of Labor The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for the administration of federal laws governing occupational safety and health, wage and hour standards, unemploym ...

reportList of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor
/ref> on labor conditions around the world contained a ''

List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor The ''List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor'' is an annual publication issued by the United States Government’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs at the U.S. Department of Labor. It has been published within the December 2014 D ...

'' that mentioned diamonds as a good produced in such working conditions in the Central African Republic.

Production

Production of gold and diamonds, which is mostly artisanal, comes from the regions of Berberati,

Haute-Kotto Haute-Kotto is one of the 16 prefectures of the Central African Republic. Its capital is Bria. It is the largest prefecture in the Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in C ...

, and Haute-Sangha. In 2006, diamond production increased to about from a revised in 2005; diamond exports, which were mainly destined for Europe and

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, amounted to about and were valued at $59 million.

Structure of the mineral industry

Production and trade of diamond and gold are overseen by the

Bureau d'Evaluation et de Côntrole de Diamant et d'Or Bureau ( ) may refer to: Agencies and organizations * Government agency *Public administration * News bureau, an office for gathering or distributing news, generally for a given geographical location * Bureau (European Parliament), the administra ...

(BECDOR). BECDOR maintains the country's diamond and gold production database and assesses the value of diamond parcels that come from the various diamond-exporting companies (collectively known as bureaux d'achat) that operate in the country.

Commodities

Gold

Axmin Inc. of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

continues to explore for

in the country. A pre-feasibility study for the Passendro Gold Project was completed by GBM Gold Ltd. of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

in early 2006. It was followed by a feasibility study conducted by Senet (pty) Ltd. of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, commissioned during the third quarter of 2006. The pre-feasibility study had envisioned an open pit operation with a gravity carbon-in-leach processing plant that would process about 3 million metric tons per year (Mt/yr) of ore with production estimated to be about 6,200 kilograms per year (kg/yr) of gold (reported as 200,000 troy ounces). Other companies exploring for gold in the country included Prospero Minerals Corp. (formerly Corumel Minerals Corp., before 2006), and Tamija Gold & Diamond Exploration Inc. of the United States, and London-based Pan-African Resources Plc.

Diamond

In 2006, Energem Resources Inc. of Canada continued to focus on the development of suitable diamond prospects within its Bangana, Bria, Kotto, and Quadda concessions in the

and

Bamingui-Bangoran Bamingui-Bangoran is one of the 16 prefectures of the Central African Republic. It covers an area of 58,200 km² and had a population of 38,437 as of the 2003 census. The population density of 0.66/km² is the lowest in the country. The capit ...

prefectures. Canadian Vaaldiam Resources Ltd.’s plans to explore for diamond-bearing

kimberlite Kimberlite is an igneous rock and a rare variant of peridotite. It is most commonly known to be the main host matrix for diamonds. It is named after the town of Kimberley in South Africa, where the discovery of an diamond called the Star of ...

pipes in the country continued to be put on hold during the year as the company focused on other priority exploration areas elsewhere in the world. Other companies exploring for diamond included Pangea Diamondfields Plc (

Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

), which planned to invest $3.2 million in a bulk sampling plant for its Dimbi (

Basse-Kotto Basse-Kotto is one of the 16 and the least populated prefecture of the Central African Republic. Its capital is Mobaye Mobaye is a settlement with a population of 7,176 (2003 census) in the Basse-Kotto prefecture of Central African Republic. ...

) project concession area, and Gem Diamonds Ltd. (UK), which held exploration and mining permits for the

Mambéré river Mambéré is a prefecture in the Central African Republic. In 2022, the prefecture had a population of around 265,479. Mambéré has a size of 15,740 km2. Carnot is the capital of the prefecture. History Together with Lim-Pendé and Ouha ...

project near the city of Berberati.

Mineral fuels

The Central African Republic did not produce mineral fuels in 2006 and depended upon imports for its energy requirements. United Reef Ltd. of Canada obtained the rights to a

petroleum exploration Hydrocarbon exploration (or oil and gas exploration) is the search by petroleum geologists and geophysicists for deposits of hydrocarbons, particularly petroleum and natural gas, in the Earth#Crust, Earth using petroleum geology. Exploration m ...

permit in the country through a "farm-in agreement" with

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

-based RSM Production Corp. in 2004. It was unable to continue with its exploration activities in 2006. The company declared ''

force majeure In contract law, (from Law French: 'overwhelming force', ) is a common clause in contracts which essentially frees both parties from liability or obligation when an extraordinary event or circumstance beyond the control of the parties, such ...

'' following the lack of progress in resolving a contract dispute between RSM and the government. The company's exploration permit was for the Doseo and the Salamat basins in the northern part of the country.

Uranium

Uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...

was discovered in 1966 in the

Bakouma Bakouma is a sub-prefecture in the prefecture of Mbomou in Central African Republic. The area is known for its prosperity of mineral resources which have for a long time remained unexploited. History Bakouma was founded in September 1892 when ...

region in the eastern part of the country, and there was further prospecting in the

Berbérati Berbérati is the second-largest city in the Central African Republic, with a population of 105,155(2013 census). Located in the south-west of the country near the border with Cameroon, it serves as capital of the Mambéré-Kadéï Prefecture and g ...

and

Bangassou Bangassou is a city in the south eastern Central African Republic, lying on the north bank of the Mbomou River. It has a population of 24,447 (2003 census) and is the capital of the Mbomou prefecture. It is known for its wildlife, market, and near ...

areas; exploitation has not occurred, because of high start-up costs and poor transportation. Reserves were estimated at 18,000 tons.

Iron

Iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

deposits estimated at 3.5 million tons have been exploited in

and

, but production has now ceased.

References

{{Africa topic, Mining in Economy of the Central African Republic Mining in the Central African Republic