[3] Following the Second Congo War, Mai Mai-allied militia in were to form the 85th brigade of the national army, receive training and then fragment when they deployed throughout the country.

The militia refused to cooperate, however, and since then they controls the production and transport of tin, and the economics of Bisie, and nearby Manoire village, under the supervision of Colonel Samy Matumo.

When it arrived it was driven to the village of Kilambo, where it was loaded into Soviet-style cargo planes, flown to Goma, and sold to international dealers, such as Malaysia Smelting Corporation.

[7] This mining and export ban, together with the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and pressure from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), caused buyers to buy less at lower prices.

The Dodd-Frank legislation requires US-listed companies who obtain minerals from the DRC and adjoining countries, to implement due diligence measures.

[6] The main buyers of cassiterite in the area, i.e. the Malaysian Smelting Corporation, various Chinese companies and Eurotrade International, boycotted Bisie ore, easy to identify due to its pink-red colour.

[10] In 2012, the number of artisanal miners at the site had declined sharply, due in great part to the deep tunnels now needed to reach the ore.