‘Sierra Leone minister of mines’ secret ‘licences’ to Chinese goldmining companies’ 8 July 2021

Following the exposure of the illegal Chinese goldmining operations in Penguia Chiefdom, Kailahun District, the minister of mines and mineral resources, Mr Timothy Kabbah (Photo above), has secretly awarded mining licences to a company called Metals and Minerals Trading (SL) Limited – one of the illegal Chinese mining companies operating in Penguia Chiefdom – without due process. The ministry has granted two licences to the company. The first was the Environment Impact Assessment Licence, which was granted by the Government of Sierra Leone’s Environment Protection Agency (under the auspices of the ministry) for a period of 12 months.

The licence is dated 14th June 2021, but it was secretly granted after the publication of our investigative article in the United Kingdom on 20th June 2021, which exposed the minister and his involvement in the illegal goldmining taking place in Penguia Chiefdom. The licence was backdated in an attempt to indicate that it predated the investigative article. The second licence, titled Small-Scale Mining License No SML 8/2021, was granted on 22nd June 2021, two days after the investigative article was published. The minister of mines and mineral resources secretly granted these operating licences without due process to Metals and Minerals Trading (SL) Limited to mine gold in Penguia Chiefdom.

…The investigative article clearly highlighted the catastrophic environmental and health problems resulting from deadly chemicals percolating into the streams that are the main sources of drinking water for the villages within and beyond the mining areas. Two of the illiterate chiefs who signed the documents have medical issues caused by polluted drinking water – but they cannot say this publicly…The environmental impact assessment, which has apparently been completed and signed off in a couple of days, tramples upon the lives of the people of Penguia, who are getting ill or are dying as a result of the mining. Most of the communities here rely on fish from the rivers to feed their families. The fish consume cyanide and heavy metals which enter the water from the mines, and they pass these on directly to the people who eat them.