Struggles over value: corporate–state suppression of locally led mining mechanisation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The analytical framework deployed by the extensive global value chain (GVC) literature on African mining fails to consider how and from whom value is transferred within the process of establishing foreign corporate-led mining GVCs, and with what consequences. The authors explore these questions through a case study of the gold value chain in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In this context, they argue that a coalition between transnational capital and the Congolese state has marginalised and held back locally led processes of capital accumulation and mining mechanisation. Based on the findings, the developmental potential of domestically embedded networks of African production is highlighted.