Mozambique: Police investigate invasion of ruby mining area – AIM report

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Mozambique: Police investigate invasion of ruby mining area – AIM report

8:18 CAT | 24 Feb 2020

Namanhumbir. [Photo: Noticias]

Various branches of the Mozambican police are investigating the mass invasion by illegal miners of the area granted to the company Montepuez Ruby Mining (MRM) on 4-6 February, according to sources in the Cabo Delgado Provincial Police Command, cited in Friday’s issue of the independent newssheet “Carta de Mocambique”.

The invasion in the Namanhumbir locality of Montepuez district led to tragedy when mine shafts collapsed on top of the illegal miners.

A statement issued by MRM on 13 February said about 800 artisanal miners invaded the part of the concession area known as “Maningue Nice 3”. The illegal miners, MRM said, “vastly outnumbered the MRM security personnel and Mozambican police present at that location at the time”.

The artisanal miners were seeking ruby-bearing gravels under extremely dangerous conditions. “Despite repeated warnings from MRM personnel”, the statement continued, “they commenced undercutting the outer edge of the mining pit. This led to several ground collapse incidents in which 11 artisanal miners died”.

“Greater presence of the media and of Mozambican authorities at the mine and in surrounding areas and villages has resulted in MRM’s mining pits, including Maningue Nice 3, presently being clear of artisanal miners and day-to-day operations remain unaffected”, the company said.

“The Company continues to work closely with Mozambican authorities to raise awareness among local communities of the dangers of artisanal mining and to assist in tackling ruby smuggling and reduce the risk to, and exploitation of, vulnerable groups by well-organised syndicates”, the statement added.

MRM also noted articles in the Mozambican press in which “artisanal miners claim to have made payments to factions within the Mozambican police in order to gain access” to the MRM concession area.

The first collapse at Maningue Nice 3 occurred on the morning of 4 February. Two of the illegal miners were trapped in the collapse: one died, and the other suffered serious injuries. Despite this, more illegal miners came to the pit and continued digging.

Less than 24 hours later, there was a second collapse in which another miner died. But the illegal mining continued, and the following day there was a third death.

The worst was yet to come. On the night of 5-6 February, another wall inside a shaft collapsed, and this time eight miners lost their lives.

MRM says that it has provided humanitarian assistance, including help in moving the dead and injured miners. It has also placed signs near the pits warning of the dangers.

This is far from the first tragedy at the MRM area. The company says that, in its earlier investigations, in 2019, it found situations of “modern slavery”. The great majority of the illegal miners were not from Cabo Delgado, but from the neighbouring province of Nampula, and they were trapped into making payments to the ruby smuggling syndicates.

Some of them had been asked to make a payment to the syndicates in order to be granted the “opportunity” to mine and be provided with transport to, and food and accommodation in, the Montepuez area. MRM found that when they could not pay these fees at once, “the syndicates offer to provide a loan which the illegal miner is to repay later from his ruby mining activities, thereby placing the miner in debt with the syndicate”.

The syndicate takes the rubies dug by the illegal miners and sells them on higher up the ruby smuggling chain. “The illegal miner receives only a fraction of the sums involved”, said MRM. “Indebted to the syndicates and with no spare cash, these illegal miners cannot freely return home”.

The MRM investigation concluded “that these illegal miners are deliberately being put into debt bondage by middlemen and syndicate leaders, who exploit conditions of poverty and unemployment in struggling communities, thereby practicing a form of modern-day slavery. In addition, the influx of illegal miners damages the social fabric of local communities due to alcohol and drug abuse, domestic and sexual violence”.

Speaking to reporters this week, the spokesperson for the Cabo Delgado provincial police command, Eugenia Nhamuchua, said the police have detained seven people, some of them Mozambicans and some foreigners, involved in the invasion of the Maningue Nice 3 pit.

She said the police are investigating how so many illegal miners came to be at the pit at the same time. “We want to know what happened, and what are the motivations”, she declared.

Source: AIM