SAEMAPE (Service d’assistance et d’encadrement des mines artisanales et de petit echelle) is the DRC government service devoted to supporting artisanal and small-scale miners, and a key ITSCI partner on the ground. SAEMAPE agents are tagging minerals with ITSCI at the mine level, meaning daily contact with 3T minerals that enter the ITSCI supply chain. In order to carry out these responsibilities, accurate tools are necessary.
In Pangi, various ITSCI incidents were opened that stemmed from data inaccuracies or conflicting mineral weights reported at the mine and processor level. When the ITSCI field team in Pangi followed up to make sure the companies involved were fulfilling their due diligence obligations by accounting for weight discrepancies, SAEMAPE’s lack of scales surfaced as a cause. Because of limited equipment, SAEMAPE resorted to local negotiants’ scales, but they appeared not to be calibrated according to government standards.
Last year, the issue of lack of equipment was discussed at the monthly meetings of the local multi-stakeholder committee (CLS) in Kalima town facilitated by ITSCI. ITSCI also liaised with SAEMAPE’s provincial leadership to reinforce reports submitted by the SAEMAPE Heads of Office throughout Pangi that explained how the lack of scales impeded their daily work.
SAEMAPE agent tagging minerals