Illegal mining in MRM concession continues to cost lives

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Illegal mining in MRM concession continues to cost lives

12:36 CAT | 25 Mar 2021

File photo: MRM

Illegal mining in the Montepuez Ruby Mining (MRM) concession in Namanhumbir, Montepuez district, Cabo Delgado, continues to cost lives.

At around 4:00 p.m. on March 18, 2021, the MRM was informed that an artisanal miner had died as a result of the collapse of an illegal mine in the concession, and that others were trapped underground. The deceased miner was 25 years old and a native of Nuanza, Tanzania.

Two illegal miners were rescued alive from the collapsed mine at 9:00 p.m. and rushed to hospital. One of them, a young man only 20 years old from Netia, Nampula province, later died, while the other, a 24-year-old man from Monapo district, Nampula, remains under medical care.

From the information provided, it is believed that the illegal mine collapsed under normal weather conditions and that the prospectors were trapped underground.

The incident was immediately reported to the police, who promptly went to the scene to remove the body of the deceased and initiate legal procedures and a medical investigation, as well as to evacuate the two injured miners to hospital.

The growing number of incidents, attacks and fatalities involving illegal miners in the Montepuez Ruby Mining concession is a major concern for the company and for local communities, whose villages are struggling with the inflow of illegal miners from distant cities, neighbouring provinces and other countries.

The unsafe practices of illegal miners, often supervised or coerced by illegal gem smuggling syndicates financed by foreign traders operating in the region, continue to result in the unnecessary loss of human life in the area.

MRM has carried out continuous awareness campaigns warning of the dangers of illegal mining and urging people against such activities in nearby communities and elsewhere.

This year, 2021, at least four people, mostly young men from foreign countries or distant villages, lost their lives to illegal mining in the MRM concession, often buried in collapsing mines.

These incidents have been brought to the attention of the authorities, both at provincial and national level, in the hope that more proactive measures will be taken against those who are financing, facilitating and encouraging the illegal trade in Mozambican rubies, to the detriment of Mozambique and its population, through loss of life and the deprivation of much-needed tax revenue from mineral resources.

Source: Montepuez Ruby Mining / Press Release