Congo’s Forgotten Uranium

On 06 August 1945, the United States dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on a Japanese city, Hiroshima, during the Second World War. Did you know that the uranium used in making the bomb and subsequent atomic weapons were sourced from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)?

Written by Victoria Audu

Aug 8, 2023

Meeting in the Oval Office between Nixon and President Mobutu Sese Seku of Zaire. Jack E. Kightlinger / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS.

On Saturday, 06 August 1945, the United States dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on a Japanese city, Hiroshima, as a warning message to end the Second World War. As with other major world events like the First World War, Africa was involved, and in this instance, as a secret borrowed hand. Most of the uranium used in making the bomb and subsequent atomic weapons were sourced from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

During the Second World War, world powers were in a race to figure out nuclear weapons. News spread that Nazi scientists in Germany discovered how to split a uranium atom, a process known as nuclear fission. The process required a neutron, which is an electrically neutral particle in an atom, to collide with a uranium atom to release a devastating amount of energy. This alarmed scientists worldwide. To this effect, the US started The Manhattan Project in 1939, which cost about $2 billion and 130,000 personnel. It was stationed in Los Alamos, Mexico and headed by American physicist, J. Robert Oppenheimer. On 21 July 2023, a biopic based on Oppenheimer was released. The film was written and directed by Christopher Nolan and offered a comprehensive understanding of the events leading up to and following the invention of the atomic bomb from the perspective of Oppenheimer. Like many historical accounts from a global perspective, however, it failed to mention the connection between the bombing and the sourcing of uranium from the DRC.

A large amount of uranium used in making the first atomic weaponry was sourced from the Shinkolobwe mine in the Katanga province of the DRC. First discovered in 1915 and under Belgian colonial rule, the mine was manned by Congolese labourers to produce uranium for the US. These labourers worked under secret contracts and low wages for the United States national security. To prevent information from leaking, Shinkolobwe was erased from maps and the then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill, referred to the uranium as an ‘indispensable raw material for the project’. Misinformation was also spread to make it appear that they were sourced from Canada, whose ores yielded 0.03 per cent uranium while Congolese ores yielded 65 per cent uranium.

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About the Author

Victoria Audu

is a Junior Editor at The Republic.

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Congo’s Forgotten Uranium