Forminière

The Société internationale forestière et minière du Congo (French; lit. 'International Forestry and Mining Company of the Congo'), known as Forminière, was a mining company in Belgian Congo.[1] Founded in 1906 with an intended diversified portfolio of activities, it soon found diamonds in the Kasai region and made diamond mining its main activity.[2]: 501  Its operations ended in 1962, soon after the independence of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and it was eventually dissolved in 1966.

Overview

In the early years of the 20th century the Congo Free State propaganda war persuaded Leopold II of Belgium that he might not be able to keep personal ownership of the Congo Free State for much longer, so that he attempted to secure continued economic benefit from it by creating three companies that would control the territory's principal resources: the Union Minière du Haut-Katanga (UMHK), Compagnie du chemin de fer du bas-Congo au Katanga (BCK), and Forminière. These were established in the fall of 1906 with advice from Jean Jadot and Hubert Droogmans, respectively with initial capital of 10 million, 2 million, and 3.5 million Belgian francs.[2]: 500  The Forminière's capital, initially divided into 7,000 shares, was initially held by Leopold's Foundation of the Crown and Congo Free State (58 percent); a group of American investors led by Thomas Fortune Ryan and Daniel Guggenheim (25 percent); and a group of Belgian investors led by the Société Générale de Belgique (17 percent).[1]: 50  Leopold's plans were thwarted when the Free State was taken over by the Belgian Government in 1908, however, as he was not allowed to keep the Foundation of the Crown for himself. Instead, the Foundation was terminated, and its assets and liabilities were directly assumed by the Belgian state.[1]: 51  The Belgian state thus retained a 55-percent ownership stake in the Forminière.[3]

In 1907, Forminière prospectors collected samples near Tshikapa which were found two years later to contain a diamond, creating the basis for the company's successful development diamond mining in Kasai. Subesequent prospection in 1911 indicated a significant quantity of diamonds, on which basis the Forminière more than doubled its capital to 16,000 shares.[1]: 52  In 1918, Forminière discovered a second major site for diamond extraction at Bakwanga.[4] For the length of its existence until 1961, Forminière kept a monopoly on diamond production in Kasai.[5]

Due in part to a drop in production that coincided with the outbreak of the Second World War, the United States' Office of Strategic Services to investigate possible diversion of production to the Axis powers. In a 1945 lawsuit against De Beers, the United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division attempted to get access to purchasing directly from Forminière instead of through the De Beers as a middleman.[6] The lawsuit was eventually dropped in 1948 due to jurisdictional issues.[7]

By early 1958, Forminière employed around 15,000 workers in Kasai, mostly in Bakwanga as the Tshikapa site had entered a declining phase.[8] Forminière and its rival, the Société minière de Bécéka, dominated the production of diamonds in the Belgian Congo. In 1959, Forminière's production of diamonds rose to 425,234 carats.[9]

In the Congo Crisis following the 1960 independence of Congo, the Forminière was the dominant financial supporter of the secessionist state of South Kasai and received concessions from its government in exchange.[10]: 86  Following the deposition of South Kasai leader Albert Kalonji in December 1961, the Forminière's mining operations ceased abruptly in January 1962.[3] Its mining operations were taken over by a newly formed Congolese company, the Societé Minière de Bakwanga (known as Miba) majority-owned by the Congolese state. The Forminière company in Brussels was eventually wound up in 1966.[11]

In Brussels, the Forminière was continuously headquartered at 42, rue Royale,[12][13] in the same urban block as the SGB and BCK, respectively at numbers 3 and 7 of nearby rue Montagne du Parc - Warandeberg.[14]: 33  All these buildings were demolished during the reconstruction of the block by the Société Générale between 1968 and 1980.[15] A surviving building down Rue Royale (No. 54) was erected for Forminière in 1937 and is occasionally mistaken for its former head office.[16][17]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Richard Derksen (1983). "Forminiere in the Kasai, 1906 - 1939". African Economic History (12).
  2. ^ a b Luc de Beco (1953), "Le rôle des capitaux belges dans le développement économique du Congo" (PDF), La Revue de la Banque
  3. ^ a b Jean-Louis Moreau (2010), "De la décolonisation à la zaïrianisation. Le sort des capitaux belges au Congo", Les cahiers Irice: 61–77
  4. ^ "République Démocratique du Congo". Valuae. Retrieved 7 October 2025.
  5. ^ "Diamonds in Africa: Democratic Republic of Congo". Alluvial Exploration & Mining. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
  6. ^ "Glitter & greed : the secret world of the Diamond empire : Roberts, Janine, 1942- : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive". Internet Archive. 2023-03-25. Retrieved 2023-10-02.
  7. ^ Montpelier, Dale J. (2014-12-17). "Diamonds are Forever? Implications of United States Antitrust Statutes on International Trade and the De Beers Diamond Cartel". California Western International Law Journal. 24 (2): 6. Retrieved 2023-10-02.
  8. ^ "L'affaire Kalonji et les problèmes du Kasai", Courrier hebdomadaire du CRISP (31): 9–18, 1959
  9. ^ Un autre regard sur Tervuren - Guide alternatif de l'exposition Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine, Tony Busselen, International Action for Liberation, 26 mai 2005
  10. ^ Paul Nugent (2004). Africa since Independence: A Comparative History. New York: Palgrave-MacMillan. ISBN 978-0-333-68273-9.
  11. ^ "Société Internationale Forestière et Minière du Congo. Forminière". Musée Royal de l'Afrique Centrale - Archives. Retrieved 6 October 2025.
  12. ^ Norman Clowes (March 1990), "Early air mail from Angola routed through the Belgian Congo" (PDF), Belgian Congo Study Circle: 75/9
  13. ^ "Actes de Sociétés" (PDF), Moniteur Congolais: 190, 30 June 1960
  14. ^ Joanne Coyle Dauphin (December 1965), "Belgian Centers of Documentation and Research on Africa", African Studies Bulletin (8:3), Cambridge University Press: 21–39
  15. ^ "Société Générale de Belgique : Rue Royale 20-30-40". Région de Bruxelles-Capitale - Inventaire du Patrimoine Architectural. Retrieved 13 November 2025.
  16. ^ "Ancienne Compagnie Internationale Forestière et Minière du Congo : Rue Royale 54-56". Région de Bruxelles-Capitale - Inventaire du Patrimoine Architectural. Retrieved 13 November 2025.
  17. ^ Pauline Imbach (17 September 2008). "Promenade anti-coloniale à Bruxelles, l'ancienne métropole du Congo". Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt.

Bibliography

  • Forminière 1906-1956, Brussels, Ed. L. Cuypers, 1956, 211p.
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