The ''Société internationale forestière et minière du Congo'' (

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

; ), known as Forminière, was a

mining company This is an incomplete alphabetical list of mining companies. A * Adex Mining * Aditya Birla Group * African Rainbow Minerals * Agnico Eagle * Aiteo * Almonty Industries * Alumina * Anaconda Copper * Anglo American (mining) * Anglo Platinum ...

in the

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (, ; ) was a Belgian colonial empire, Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960 and became the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville). The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Repu ...

(modern-day

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

). Founded by the industrialist

Jean Jadot Jean Jadot (; 23 November 1909 – 21 January 2009) was a Belgian Catholic prelate who served as apostolic delegate to the United States (the first non-Italian to do so) from 1973 to 1980, and as president of the Secretariat for Non-Christian ...

in 1906, the company began

diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...

mining in Kasai in 1913. At its height, Forminière was involved in gold and silver mining, cotton, palm and rubber cultivation, farming, sawmilling and even owned shops. The Belgian colonial state co-owned 50 percent of the company's capital, the rest being held largely by American shareholders. The company was founded in 1906 under the

Congo Free State The Congo Free State, also known as the Independent State of the Congo (), was a large Sovereign state, state and absolute monarchy in Central Africa from 1885 to 1908. It was privately owned by Leopold II of Belgium, King Leopold II, the const ...

, controlled personally by

Leopold II of Belgium Leopold II (9 April 1835 – 17 December 1909) was the second king of the Belgians from 1865 to 1909, and the founder and sole owner of the Congo Free State from 1885 to 1908. Born in Brussels as the second but eldest-surviving son of King Leo ...

. It was founded contemporaneously with the

Union Minière du Haut-Katanga The ''Union Minière du Haut-Katanga'' (French language, French; literally "Mining Union of Upper-Katanga") was a Belgium, Belgian mining company (with minority British share) that controlled and operated the mining industry in the copperbelt re ...

and the Compagnie de Chemin de fer du Katanga. A minority stake was sold to

American Congo Company The American Congo Company was a US-owned concessionary company that was active in the Congo Free State and its successor, the Belgian Congo. At first it was focused on rubber extraction, but that soon shifted to diamond mining. Formation The Am ...

both with the aim of reducing growing criticism of the Congo Free State, and also in the hope that foreign forces would intervene to protect his commercial interests. Unlike the

, the mineral resources of the Forminière concession were unknown, and initial exploration focused on gold prospecting. After diamonds were discovered, serious diamond mining began in 1913. For the length of its existence, from 1913 to 1961, Forminière had a monopoly on diamond production in Kasai. Due in part to a drop in production that coincided with the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the United States'

Office of Strategic Services The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the first intelligence agency of the United States, formed during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines ...

to investigate possible diversion of production to the

Axis powers The Axis powers, originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis and also Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, was the military coalition which initiated World War II and fought against the Allies of World War II, Allies. Its principal members were Nazi Ge ...

. In a 1945 lawsuit against

De Beers The De Beers Group is a South African–British corporation that specializes in the diamond industry, including mining, exploitation, retail, inscription, grading, trading and industrial diamond manufacturing. The company is active in open-pi ...

, the

United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division The United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division is a division of the U.S. Department of Justice that enforces U.S. antitrust law. It has exclusive jurisdiction over federal criminal antitrust prosecutions, and it shares jurisdict ...

attempted to get access to purchasing directly from Forminière instead of through the De Beers as a middleman. The lawsuit was eventually dropped in 1948 due to jurisdictional issues. Forminière and its rival, the Société minière de Beceka (Mibeka), later changed to "de Bakwanga" (MIBA), dominated the production of diamonds in the Belgian Congo. In 1959, Forminière's production of diamonds rose to 425,234 carats.''Un autre regard sur Tervuren - Guide alternatif de l'exposition''
, Tony Busselen, International Action for Liberation, 26 mai 2005 However, after the 1960 independence of Congo and unrest in the region, company operations soon ceased. Forminière was the principal corporate supporter of the secessionist state of

South Kasai South Kasai () was an unrecognised secessionist state within the Republic of the Congo (the modern-day Democratic Republic of the Congo) which was semi-independent between 1960 and 1962. Initially proposed as only a province, South Kasai soug ...

and received concessions from its government in exchange for financial support.

References

Bibliography

* ''Forminière 1906-1956'', Brussels, Ed. L. Cuypers, 1956, 211p. * *
Archive International Forestry and Mining Company of the Congo
Royal Museum for Central Africa Non-renewable resource companies established in 1913 Defunct companies of Belgium Mining companies of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Diamond mining companies of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Gold mining companies of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Silver mining companies 1913 establishments in the Belgian Congo Non-renewable resource companies disestablished in 1961 1961 disestablishments in the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville) {{mining-company-stub

See also

References

Bibliography