Mozambique: Montepuez Ruby Mining rehouses the 105 families who were living inside the concession

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Mozambique: Montepuez Ruby Mining rehouses the 105 families who were living inside the concession

4:20 CAT | 28 Dec 2020

Image: Moz24h

Montepuez Ruby Mining (MRM), which operates a ruby mine in northern Mozambique, said on Monday that it has relocated the 105 families who were living in the area under concession to the company to a new village.

Construction of the 105 houses in the new village in Namanhumbir (outside the area under concession to the company) cost US$10 million (€8 million), MRM said in a statement sent to the media.

“We are reaching the peak of a process that has taken some time. The communities needed to be convinced that MRM’s activity would benefit them. The construction of the village has always been a priority for us, despite the difficulties imposed by Covid-19, in a year when we had no revenue at all,” said MRM president Samora Machel Júnior, quoted in the communiqué.

According to the document, the new village and associated agricultural land covers an area of 2,400 hectares, with water and electricity infrastructures, a primary school, a market, a church, a mosque, a police station, a cemetery and a landfill.

MRM has also developed a professional training centre within the village, at an additional cost of US$1.4 million (€1 million), which will train 2,100 local young people over a seven-year period.

“This has a great impact on our communities as it will improve their quality of life. In addition, the new houses will boost the development of our district,” said Montepuez Administrator Isaura Máquina, also quoted in the note.

Each family, according to MRM, will receive a property title for an area of 5,000 square metres, which includes the main house, all additional infrastructure and two hectares of agricultural land.

According to the company, which has been warning of the consequences of illegal mining in the region since the beginning of the year, there has been a growing trend of invasions in the area, culminating in over 25 fatalities.

The Montepuez mine made international news last year due to legal proceedings.

In January 2019, Gemfields agreed to pay $8.3 million (about €7 million at the current exchange rate) in an extrajudicial settlement to put an end to 273 complaints of deaths, beatings and other human rights violations at the mine, carried out by private security and police between 2011 and 2018.

The company admitted the existence of the incidents, but never the responsibility for their occurrence.

MRM owns 34,000 hectares of ruby mining concession in Cabo Delgado, in the north of the country, and is the main investor in ruby mining in Mozambique, 75% owned by Gemfields and 25% by Mwiriti Limitada.

According to figures published in the statement, since operations began in February 2012, MRM has spent US$267 million (€218 million) on construction and operation of the ruby mine, having contributed a total of US$144 million (€118 million) in business taxes and fees for the Mozambican government, as well as providing US$3.9 million (€3 million) for projects related to environmental conservation and development of communities in the region.

Source: Lusa