Chifunde gold mining: PGR orders suspension of activities – O País

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Chifunde gold mining: PGR orders suspension of activities – O País

5:44 CAT | 04 Jul 2023

Image: O País

The conflict between the Cooperativa dos Mineiros Artesanais Samora Moisés Machel and the company Mulamuli, Lda, at a gold mine in Chifunde district, Tete province, continues with no end in sight.

Tete Provincial Public Prosecutor’s Office (PGR) says it has ordered the suspension of activities there pending investigation of accusations against members of the cooperative, but that the destruction of infrastructure at the site and the compulsory removal of the artisanal miners are nevertheless illegal.

In June, the newspaper O Pais reported that the around 3,000 members of the Cooperativa dos Mineiros Artesanais Samora Moisés Machel and the company Mulamuli, Lda. were involved in a conflict over gold mining in Chifunde.

Artisanal miners explain that the situation started in 2018, when the cooperative received a note from a South African company called Ouro Mulamuli, Lda., stating its intention to carry out research in the area to determine the existence or not of certain minerals, and assuring that there would be no conflict with the cooperative’s activities.

According to the cooperative, the company during this process diverted the focus of its activities and asked for a licence to mine in the area where it [the cooperative] had been operating for over 15 years.

As soon as the licence was issued, the company launched a campaign to force the removal of the artisanal miners. Among the methods used were the smear campaign against the cooperative’s leaders; the opening of criminal proceedings against the senior members of the cooperative and their arrest by the criminal investigation police ( SERNIC) on charges of being delinquents; destroying the means of work of cooperative members; and the burning of their homes and destruction of infrastructure built by the cooperative, such as a police station and a community health centre.

READ: Environmental crimes and illegal mining in Chifunde: Court issues arrest warrants against alleged ringleaders – Notícias

At the moment, members of the cooperative are scattered across various parts of Chifunde, some even living in the bush for fear of reprisals. There are indications that some have fled to Malawi.

The newspaper O Pais tried to interview the company Mulamuli, Lda, through its lawyers, but they claimed that any comment would be premature.

For its part, the Provincial Public Attorney’s Office in Tete said that it had ordered the suspension of activities at the mines affected by the conflict in order to investigate accusations against cooperative members, but that the destruction of infrastructure in the area and the compulsory removal of artisanal miners are nevertheless illegal.

The Provincial Attorney’s Office in Tete says that it is working to identify the masterminds behind the destruction of the disputed mines.

READ: Mozambique: 4,000 artisanal gold miners forcibly removed in Chifunde, Tete – Watch

On the subject, we contacted the Tete Provincial Directorate of Infrastructure, which is also responsible for the mining sector in the province. The official said he could not comment, allegedly because the matter was already under the responsibility of the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy.

Likewise, the administrator of the District of Chifunde claimed that she did not know about the problem, although O Pais has established that she was at the site within days of the expulsion of artisanal miners and the destruction of their property.

By Rogerio Valente

Source: O País