All mining in Manica province was banned on Tuesday 30 September by the Mozambique Council of Ministers, which ordered the army to enforce the ban. The action was taken to stop serious pollution by gold miners in the hills in the west of the province bordering Zimbabwe. Council of Ministers spokesperson, Minister of State Administration Inocencio Impissa, said the problem was not merely with illegal, unlicensed mining.
"Uncontrolled mining is also perpetrated by licensed operators” who operate without environmental restoration plans or waste containment systems, and which abandon mining equipment after use and violate labour laws and workers’ rights. Impissa said there are critical levels of environmental pollution in some rivers, where the waters, which were once clear, have now become reddish, cloudy, and opaque, as a direct result of the washing of minerals, particularly gold, and the release of metallic and chemical waste, and excavated earth, without any treatment.
The Public Integrity Centre (CIP) last week issued an excellent video on the environmental damage (with English subtitles) and a report of their investigation (in English). CIP analysed water quality in the watershed of the Chicamba dam. It found mercury levels up to 16 times permitted levels. In the Chicamba reservoir which supplies drinking water to Chimoio, CIP found mercury at the maximum permitted level as well as arsenic. CIP also found social conflicts due to land expropriation and diverting entire rivers.
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Cartels control Mozambique, including Manica mining
"There are cartels that control almost all activities in Mozambique, and we are facing yet another cartel that is destroying the country, hindering development and killing Mozambicans," CIP director Edson Cortez warned in Chimoio last week. He added that the CIP investigation showed the fragility of "an unregulated extractive sector … captured by cartels" linked to Frelimo. "Interests of powerful people are in play" in Manica mining. (Savana 3 Oct)
Larger gold mines are owned by high officials and the families, notably relatives of past presidents. Some bring in Chinese companies to do the actual mining; others hire garimpeiros (artisanal miners). So far, the owners have been powerful enough to stop any inspection or regulation. President Chapo visited the area in May and banned five mining companies. He returned in September and admitted he had failed to stop what he called an "environmental disaster". The Council of Ministers decision last week to ban all mining on the province, enforced by the army, was the response.
An inter-ministerial commission has been set up to deal with the Manica crisis. It will be headed by defence minister Cristóvao Chume. But Zitamar (1 October) points out that "Chume has also made headlines for being one of those Frelimo elites with interests in the mining sector - raising questions of a conflict of interest." And CIP director Edson Cortez warned that, despite inspections, illegal mining continues at night.
The Manica gold rush
In two years the price of gold has doubled from $60 per gram to $120 per gram causing a gold rush in Manica. Gold in Manica occurs in layers of sediment of clay and sand. Small rivers are diverted by the miners to wash the sediment to separate the gold, and huge amounts of waste dirt are then washed into rivers, making them muddy. The Secretary of State for Manica Province, Lourenço Lindonde, said in a visit to the Chicamba dam on 13 September that electricity company EDM had cut in half electricity production because mud was clogging the turbines which had to be stopped and cleaned more often.
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Mercury, cyanide and arsenic are found in the river and Chicamba lake water. Arsenic is often found with gold and is in the mud being washed down the river. Mercury is used in small-scale gold mining to extract gold from dirt and other material; mercury binds to gold particles which are then heated to vaporize the mercury and isolate the gold. Cyanide is also used for this and has been detected in Chicamba water. Borax (sodium tetraborate), a mineral salt used in laundry, has been shown to be a safe alternative to mercury, and does no environmental damage, but gold miners need to be trained to use it.
The mud, mercury and arsenic pollute the drinking and irrigation water in rivers used by local people and also kill the fish which are an important food source.
