London Mining Operations floods Marampha and Maforki Chiefdoms

With flooded roads and communities and poverty stricken faces even though they toil in wealth, the sad history of mining in the country is looming once more at Marampha and Maforki Chiefdoms in the Portloko district where London Mining recommenced the search for hematite iron ore on 11 February 2010 after 35 years.

The operations of London Mining has for over two years left residents of some villages in these Chiefdoms who are mostly peasants farmers with more suffering following the destruction of their plantations which is their only source of livelihood.

According to Mohamed Dollar Kamara Chairman of the Land Owners Association they are concern that the flooding has affected up to eight villages in the concession areas of London Mining and that the company has deliberately refused to take full responsibility while the people continue to suffer with all of their plantations destroyed.

“The flooding which is in its worst state this year has destroyed crops, affected transportation and education as some roads in some of the villages have become almost inaccessible.”He said.

Pa Brima Sankoh Section Chief of Gbom Limba one of the affected villages who must be in his early eighties said he has lived all his life very close to abundant wealth but he still lives in a mud and thatch house with visible signs of poverty.

He went on to state that he has and will never fail to tell the world that that all they’ve had in their lives since the commencement of operations of London Mining Company into their community are series of problems that they as a Company are refusing to take responsibility of.

“Life was a bit better for us when Delco was operating here, London Mining has no respect for us, they destroyed our roads, our sacred bush and now it is our plantation and if this trend continues as it is, our own story will be worse than the deplorable situation that Kono is presently faced with.”He said with dismay.

He however warned that things will get out of hands if the government does not intervene to let the company know that they are responsible for the present suffering that they are faced with.

Even though it is quite clear that the construction of two additional Iron Ore processing plants on the water way that has blocked the creek which waste at the Rokel river is the main cause of the flooding that is still affecting the villages the Company still believes that they are not responsible for what has become a serious environmental concern.

Osman Lahai the Communications Officer of London Mining whilst denying knowledge of any reported case of flooding in their concession areas reiterated the Company’s position that they are not in any way responsible for the ongoing flooding that has destroyed the plantation of farmers in Villages like Tendata, Katik, Gbom Limba and others.

“Generally it has been raining heavily across the country and that might be the reason for the reported flood but as far as we are concern we have not cause any flooding and we will not take any responsibility of that.”He noted.

Lahai said as a responsible company London Mining attaches great importance into environmental issues and they are working in accordance with their Environmental Impact Assessment and Certificate from the country’s Environmental Protection Agency [EPA]

However, the Environmental Impact Assessment which is a public document is still kept in secrecy as it cannot be accessed either at the website of London Mining nor that of the Environmental Protection Agency or even the Mines and Mineral Resources Ministry.

Meanwhile, there seem to be some serious tension amongst young people in the township of Lunsar as most of them from different part of the country are still waiting with high expectation of having a job after they have allegedly bribed some senior workers of the Company.

Frank Conteh Youth Leader of the Portloko District Council said the issue of unemployment is serious in the township of Lunsar alleging that the employment strategy of London Mining is making it more difficult as they normally conducts exams for over five hundred people for like just fifteen spaces.

“The government is not helping out, London Mining is operating with impunity because they are covered by some senior members of the government who are benefiting directly, they are raising our hopes and they are not giving us the jobs even though we are indigenes.”He alleged.

Frank Conteh said if immediate action is not taken to address some of their concerns they will be left with no option but to go on a peaceful or violence strike action as that is what the authorities will hear.

Despite the current surge of mining companies in the country the sector still faces many challenges, including weak laws and concessions that is seeing it loosing large revenue that could have been earned from taxes and licensing agreementsand these are needed revenues that could be reinvested for example in the healthcare sector to help those people whose health is affected by mining operations.

The government in 2009 through the Ministry of Mineral Resources which is responsible for the management of the country’s minerals sector enacted the Mines and Minerals Act 2009 which locally based Civil Society Organization like Campaign for Just Mining described as giving more power to the multinational foreign companies instead of the people.

” The duty free concessions and tax evasions to multi-national companies is eminent in the Act and this has causing more loss to our country while the few that are connected and the mining companies are benefiting.” said Leslie Mboka of the Campaign for Just Mining.

Due to the poor management and monitoring by the Ministry of Mines and Mineral Resources Sierra Leone’s candidacy at the global Extraction Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) was suspended earlier this year for failure to meet with the stipulated benchmarks and the country maybe delisted from the global body if things continue in the current trend.