"Are you interested in gold?"

Happy 2009 everyone!!! well the new year got off to a bit of an interesting start for me. An acquaintance of mine gave me a call this past Friday and asked if he could meet with me on Saturday morning. I thought, because he is a land broker that he had perhaps found me an apartment or house to rent and wanted to discuss the details with me.
However, I soon realized that this meeting was not at all to do with housing, and everything to do with minerals. He asked me "are you interested in gold?", I wasn't really sure what he was getting at so I said "what do you mean?". He proceeded to tell me in a hushed voice that he has a friend in the DR Congo that has access to quantities of gold and mercury, and he's looking for a market for it. Perhaps because I'm an expat (I can't think of any other reason), my acquaintance thought I'd be the one to find them a market. Even though I knew from the start that I wasn't going to get myself involved in this, I proceeded to ask him where the gold and mercury actually came from, and being from DRC were the minerals conflict free (even though I could pretty much assume the answer to that one). He avoided answering my questions only to say that he didn't know what kind of work his friend did, just that he had access to these minerals. He then informed me that he was a strong Christian and wanted to be upfront and honest with me. He followed that statement by informing me that this venture would be illegal, but if we just kept it private no one would find out, and all would be ok. I couldn't believe what I was hearing, even after I told him I wasn't interested in any unethical or illegal dealings he still wanted me to 'ask around' to see if there would be any buyers...like I have any connections here!?
I mentioned this little meeting to my boss and he told me he had a similar offer once, only his was with diamonds! Of course he turned it down as well.
This really made me wonder, how much does this sort of thing actually go on? What is the corruption level within society?
When I think of the mineral trade, and particular how it relates to the conflict in DRC I always assume that there are just 'big players' involved. I remember last year when I was here I met some UN peacekeepers that were serving in DRC. One of them was in charge of negotiating with the particular rebel group that was positioned in his area. He told me that it was hard to deal with this group because a French mining company was funding them with arms and supplies so that the rebels could control the area and the mining company could exploit the resources.
This is how I viewed the fueling of the conflict, but now I also see that 'smaller players' are also trying to get their 'piece of the pie' and make money off of other people's misfortune despite the risks involved to themselves. Does this speak of people that are desperate and will do anything to provide for their families? Does it speak of people that are greedy? People that are opportunists? Who knows? Maybe a little of all categories. Although I do know in my instance the gentleman is not struggling to provide for his family, but he's not necessarily financially wealthy either, as in he wouldn't be part of Uganda's elite. So is he greedy, or an opportunist? Or is he just trying to get ahead? In any case it's sad that an otherwise good person would consider such a venture. I suppose the temptation is too strong to fight. Maybe he thinks that if he doesn't do it someone else will, so it may as well be him.
Needless to say I'm going to be keeping my distance from this individual for some time.

That's all for now folks!