Climate and social justice activist exposing the legacy of uranium mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Uranium from the Shinkolobwe mine the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DCR) supplied the Manhattan Project, the US program that developed the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Shinkolobwe remains a site of environmental and public-health concern today.
Mining during the 1940s took place before modern environmental and occupational safety standards were established, thus increasing risk of radioactive materials, mine waste and the long-term effects of exposure. Although the mine was officially closed in 2004, informal mining for copper and cobalt resumed in the surrounding area, exposing workers to potential hazards from ionizing radiation, radioactive dust and radon gas, as well as toxic metals.
Shinkolobwe mine, 1925
Congolese activist and community organizer Remy Zahiga is bringing attention to the lasting environmental and human consequences of that history. In his research, Remy has spoken with former miners and residents whose lives have been shaped by the mine.
As Remy wrote for the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung1:
Ilunga, a former small-scale miner at the same mine, now lives in the village of Mwobesa, a few kilometres southeast of Shinkolobwe. He says that his health has got worse and worse after his long period of work in the mine. In the absence of a scientific explanation, Ilunga suspects that he was exposed to heavy metals and radioactivity in the mine: “I can’t breathe properly and every time I go to the hospital, the doctors say they can’t find any sort of illness. I don’t have the strength to work, nor the financial means to seek treatment in a large hospital or abroad.” He also recalls that in 2006, the wife of one his mining colleagues gave birth to a child with deformities who died one week later.
It is very likely that the baby’s birth defect was linked to exposure to radioactivity from the mine, as shown by this study from the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), which reveals that women are more vulnerable to radiation than men.
Other residents have experienced displacement and the loss of access to their homes and land. These stories show that the consequences of resource extraction are not simply historical events. They can continue to affect families long after a mine has officially closed.
What makes Remy’s work particularly important is the way he connects the past with the present. The uranium extracted from Shinkolobwe helped create weapons that changed world history. Those weapons destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but the story of the uranium began much earlier, in the ground beneath a Congolese community. Decades later, people living near that same mine continue to experience the consequences of mining and environmental contamination.
A specimen of pure Uraninite from the Shinkolobwe mine. It used to be on display at the Carnegie Museum but was removed from the display in the early 1990’s because it was considered “too hot” (radioactive).
In this way, Remy has helped reveal a part of nuclear history that is often overlooked. He also connects that history to contemporary legal frameworks and compensation for those impacted:
Nowadays, the African continent is considered a nuclear-weapon-free zone by virtue of the Treaty of Pelindaba. The DRC also joined 92 other countries in signing the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in 2022, which forbids the use and production of nuclear weapons, which in turn rely on uranium ore from around the world.2
The treaty, which prohibits the use and production of nuclear weapons, adds that assistance must be provided to the victims of the whole nuclear fuel cycle and thus also to the communities affected by these now-forbidden mines.
The Treaty of Pelindaba is an African agreement that prohibits the development, testing, possession and deployment of nuclear weapons across Africa.
Remy has repeatedly called for ‘urgent measures to provide justice and redress for the local populations living around the mine, who are still suffering its consequences today.’3
It is therefore vital that these populations receive compensation, and that security around the Shinkolobwe mine be improved in collaboration with civil society. The Congolese government must also set up a strict monitoring committee to ensure close collaboration between local people and multinationals, to ensure inclusion of the people most affected by mining activities, especially prior to awarding contracts to multinationals.4
Remy asks the world to remember people who were behind the resources used to build nuclear weapons. Shinkolobwe represents more than an abandoned mine. It is a reminder that the consequences of nuclear weapons can begin long before a bomb is ever detonated. They can begin with the extraction of resources and continue through generations of environmental, social, and human costs, borne by communities whose sacrifices are often forgotten in the history of nuclear weapons.
__________________
BBC article: The forgotten mine that built the atomic bomb
Remy Zahiga is engaged in the Green Congo Initiative