( Reuters ) - Amid rusted hulks of abandoned plants and huge mine craters, Congo's former top copper town Kolwezi is showing signs of a reawakening.
The town in the southeastern copperbelt went into virtual hibernation two decades ago after looting by former dictator Mobutu Sese Seko forced the closure of most of the region's copper mines, some of the world's biggest.
"Over the last couple of years the changes here have been enormous," said Martin Christie, an official with Canadian-listed Katanga Mining, one of many firms reviving the mining industry.
"A petrol station reopened a few months ago. There was no need for one before: there were no vehicles on the streets."
Foot traffic and cattle dominated the streets, where sprawling, faded colonial-style homes evoke an era when this was the hub of the copper industry and one of the country's richest cities.
Now, brightly uniformed women direct traffic at a roundabout while hundreds of former illegal miners have formal jobs at mines or on social projects.
International mining companies are scrambling to get a foothold now political stability is returning after a 1998-2003 civil war that left most of the country in ruins.
Major mining groups BHP Billiton and Anglo American have returned to mineral-rich Democratic Republic of Congo, which last year held its first free elections in 40 years.