60 Minutes Spotlights Congo Gold

Photo: Grassroots Reconciliation Group

Gold revenues are helping to fund a violent conflict in the Congo, stated a report aired Sunday night on CBS News' 60 Minutes. According to the report, the jewelry industry has failed to track gold the way the diamond industry tracks rough diamonds.

“Gold and other minerals are funding the deadliest war since World War II. More than five million people have died in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” the program said. It was also noted that gold mine workers, including children, reportedly work for just a dollar or two a day.

According to correspondent Scott Pelley, a gold mine he visited in eastern Congo was dug from the side of a mountain by the bare hands and on the stooped backs of a hundred men.

“They've lifted tons of dirt one pan at a time, building terraces as they descend. The hunger for gold drives men into the earth so that other men can kill,” Pelley said.

The human toll however extends much further. Some 200,000 women have been raped and about 1 million residents have been displaced to makeshift campsites after rebels burnt down their villages as part of their efforts to control the region's mineral riches, the report said.

While Tiffany & Co. was credited for distancing itself from any gold related to the conflict, it was singled out as the only one of the “major jewelers” 60 Minutes talked with that can track the source of its gold.