Kevin D'Souza, aged 32, principal mining engineer with Newcastleunder-Lyme consultants Wardell Armstrong, spent two weeks near the Kahuzi Biega National Park, a vast area of rainforest and mountains now controlled by warring military and militia factions.
'Although the Kahuzi Biega National Park is a world heritage site because of its biodiversity, it's now largely in the hands of military groups who are exploiting the minerals too.
Kahuzi Biega National Park in the war-ravaged Democratic Republic of the Congo is rich in coltan, whose price soared from pounds 30 a kilo a decade ago to pounds 550 a year ago.