East Region: When abandoned mining sites wreak havoc on Batouri population.

Known for its rich mineral deposits, Batouri, like other communities in the East Region, has a history of artisanal and small-scale mining activities. 

This has caused an influx of people, from within and without the country, in search of precious minerals. The mining companies, especially those owned by foreign nationals, are actively involved in the exploitation.  

In search of daily bread, many people have resorted to small-scale artisanal mining, which they see as a quick way to acquire money, leaving a few engaged in agriculture, and livestock breeding, amongst others.

Meanwhile, as mining operations unfold, numerous pits are left abandoned without being properly closed or rehabilitated. These pits, some as deep as 100 metres and spanning wide areas, now dot the landscape like open wounds.

Our investigation on the impacts of the abandoned mining pits led this reporter to Kambele, Mboscorro and Bote villages in Batouri. These communities are noticeably grappling with the silent but deadly menace of abandoned mining pits. 

According to residents of Kambele, the uncovered mining pits pose serious threats to their community with a series of tragic incidents recorded. 

“When a person passes where the ground is soft, the ground can slide and cover the person. If the person is not lucky and the pit beside is too deep, the person will be gone forever,” Poupoum Landry, a Kambele inhabitant, said. 

He then went on to explain that during the rainy season, traversing around mining sites poses bigger risk to the population. 

These remnants of past mining activities left neglected and unprotected, have become a significant hazard to the local population, posing risks to both lives and livelihoods.

“Now there are many cases of aggression and theft because the youths have been restricted from doing artisanal mining by the big companies. We can’t get to certain areas except when it’s rainy and the uniformed men on guard are forced off duty. That is even more risky with the ground becoming soft,” the inhabitant explained their ordeals. 

Deathtrap

The mining landscape not only poses as an eyesore, it is also a serious death trap to surrounding population.

Inhabitants of Batouri and its environs have reported several cases of tragic incidents including children and livestock loss due to accidental falls into these unprotected excavations. 

Moreover, injuries sustained from such falls often prove fatal, as rescue operations are hindered by the pits’ depth and the rugged nature of the terrain.

“We have seen several cases like this in the past. The last accident here involved a boy of about 18 years who was covered by ground at the beginning of June,” Mpelo Mermoz, an inhabitant of the Mboscorro neighbourhood, told The Guardian Post. 

The teenager, he said, had gone in search of gold, despite precipitating weather. “As he moved to the place he wanted to dig, the ground above him, which was already soft, fell over him,” the local added.   

Beyond the immediate physical dangers, these pits also pose environmental and health risks to the population. The uncovered pits collect stagnant water, becoming breeding grounds for mosquitoes and potential sources of waterborne diseases. 

The contamination of groundwater due to the leaching of chemicals from abandoned mining sites further exacerbates health concerns among nearby communities.

The high usage of mercury further worsens the environmental impact by polluting the soil and water bodies and the health of miners.

According to a report by World Health Organisation, WHO, exposure to even small amounts of mercury can cause behavioural and neurological disorders. Kidney failure has also been linked to sustained exposure to elevated mercury levels.

Despite the global health body’s appeal for miners to switch to alternative chemicals and processes to amalgamate gold, its use remains widespread across the East Region and beyond. 

Farming activities under threat

With the influx of artisanal miners and mining companies, the availability of land for agricultural use has also been greatly impacted. 

Denizens in Kambele, Batouri and environs have raised alarm about the expropriation of their farmlands for mining purposes. This is often done with little or no compensation. 

According to Berry Hanry, agriculturalist from Batouri, his family was pushed out of the only parcel of land left behind to farm on by his father when mining companies began operations in the area. 

“They gave us some peanuts that can’t meet our needs”. For someone who had three or four hectares of land, they were not compensated for above 500,000FCFA” Berry recounted. 

Another farmer in Batouri, Kombo Jeannot, also narrated that their problems began following the arrival of mining companies in their area. 

“Where they are exploiting in search of gold, we had cultivated banana, plantain, cocoa and coffee farms. But they were destroyed without appropriate compensation. For some, they gave a token which we couldn’t refuse because they already had machines on the ground,” he said.

As a result, the population was forced to move several kilometres from the settlement area in search of farmland. 

Due to the long distances, the farmers have been forced to spend their scarce financial resources to carry out farming activities.

“Relocating our farmlands caused us so much difficulty. We spend to transport ourselves on motorbikes, spend to bring home the farm harvests and spend to rent the farmlands. The land left behind for me by my parents has now been occupied by the mining activities,” Kombo averred.

Meanwhile, the use of mercury, cyanide and other toxic chemicals on the ground also impacts farmlands with tuber crops like cocoyam, cassava, yam, potatoes and others. 

Insecurity

Farming in distant areas from settlements also pose high risk of insecurity with cases of rape, kidnapping and sometimes death. 

“There is no security where we now farm because here in Boucaro, people from diverse origins have settled. There was even a time when there were several cases of kidnapping and because of that, I was forced to go to the farm with all my family on foot since motorbikes could not transport us all and that would have cost us a lot,” Kombo said. 

On March 8 this year, a girl was reportedly kidnapped, raped and later brutalised to death along a major road axis in Kambele. The body of the victim was only found five days after the incident in a state of decomposition.  

Breeders record losses

Livestock breeding has also not been exempted from the general threats that unrestored mining sites pose to the agriculture sector.

Livestock breeders in the area have over the years registered severe losses and continue to record more fatalities. 

According to Abdoulaye Ousmana, a livestock breeder in Batouri, cattle rearing is the main source of income for his family and from which he sends dozens of children to school. 

This, he said, has been greatly impacted as some cattle fall into the uncovered pits turned artificial lakes. 

“In May, I lost a cow worth over 300,000 FCFA that we later found in a mine pit,” he told The Guardian Post. 

Ousmana further mentioned that he lost a couple of other cows that fed on pastures contaminated by poisonous chemicals used in the mines. 

“In a year I could loss more than five cows that fall into the pits and if you calculate is, over 2 million lost, before counting other cows that die as a result of diseases,” Ousmana bewailed.

Other animals like goats, pigs, and even dogs have reportedly fallen into the unrehabilitated mines around the community on countless occasions with no one held accountable for the losses. 

In addition, as grazers grapple with the impact of climate change through drought, they are confronted by a surge in farmer-grazer conflicts over the limited availability of land. 

Call to authorities to intervene 

In the face of the dire situation, the population continues to make distress calls on the authorities to ensure that mining activities are done in compliance with that law. 

According to the inhabitants we spoke to, little has been done by authorities to ensure that the silent death traps in the mines are covered and rehabilitated, to ensure the population’s safety and security. 

“What we want from the administration is that they should ensure that these companies restore the environment where they exploited, although it will take several years for the soil to regain its formal fertile state,” Kombo appealed. 

He added that “if they start by covering the pits, it will do us good first of all to resettle as houses had to be demolished for the mining to take place there”.

Rehabilitation of the mines, the breeders say, will ensure their cattle have pastures to feed on, which had been limited by the mining activities.  

There has been a growing chorus of voices demanding for more decisive actions from both the government and mining companies responsible for the abandoned sites.

Government effort 

Law No:2023/014 of December 19, 2023, related to the Mining Code, places environmental protection on a high pedestal. The new Mining Code, which was passed by parliament and enacted by the President of the Republic, states in its Chapter V, section 101(1) that each mining operator is responsible for the restoration, rehabilitation and closure of mines and quarries. 

Prior to the adoption of this law, Article 136 of the 2016 Mining Code had specified that the “restoration, rehabilitation and closure of mining sites and quarries are the responsibility of each operator”. 

However, very little is said to have been done to enforce the law to stamp out the irregularities in the East Region.

In August 2022, the Senior Divisional Officer of Kadey, Yakouba Djadai, suspended some mining companies in Kambele following a series of deaths at the mining sites.

This was followed up with the planting of trees in the sites of the incident as part of restoration of the area. 

Despite the suspension, some companies reportedly transgressed the measure leading to more deaths.

Civil society action to aid the population

Some civil society organisations, including the Network for the Fight against Hunger, known by its French acronym, RELUFA, have been implementing actions on the ground to aid the population. 

Since July 2023, the non-governmental organisation has been powering an advocacy project for the rehabilitation of abandoned mining sites in the East Region as indicated in the Mining Code. 

The Mining Code gives the operators the latitude to restore the environment after exploitation or contribute to the Mining Site Restoration, Rehabilitation and Closure Funds. 

The Extractive Industries Programme Officer at RELUFA, Maidjane Mbara Josephine, explained that “RELUFA’s work has been principal to draw the attention of government on the fact that the sites are not being restored and the disposition of the Mining Code not respected which requires that the sites are rehabilitated”. 

Maidjane, who is also the Project Coordinator of the advocacy project for the rehabilitation of mining sites in the East Region, further mentioned: “What we have done so far is to carry out several activities such the realisation of a study to present the impacts of the non-rehabilitated sites on the lives of the population, agriculturalists, breeders, and others”.

RELUFA’s Extractive Industries Programme Officer also cited a number of workshops organised aimed at updating journalists, impacted communities and civil society leaders on a study carried out by RELUFA and to harmonise their voices towards advocating rehabilitation of mining sites. 

“We also went to the field with the representative of the Ministry of Mines, Industry and Technological Development as well as of Environment, Nature Protection and Sustainable Development, because we learnt that the government had begun implementing rehabilitation action. So, it was important for us to see what level the project is, what is working and what isn’t working,” she added.

Salutes progress

According to the RELUFA official, during their mission to the field, they realised that some progress had been made in the rehabilitation of mining sites.  

Saluting the actions initiated by the government, Maidjane acknowledged that a lot still must be done as several mining sites are still not closed. 

“We want to say that the government is taking measures to rehabilitate the soil, but artisanal miners need to accompany the government because the government also complains that when they cover the pits, the artisanal miners still go back to dig the ground to rewash it. So, we need to associate the population in the rehabilitation work,” she told The Guardian Post.

Meanwhile, RELUFA, in its vision of empowering the communities to demand for better mineral governance and involvement in developmental actions, held series of workshops with farmers and breeders on their challenges, and coping mechanisms with unclosed mining pits around them.  

This investigation was supported by the Commonwealth Foundation, through the Network for the Fight against Hunger, RELUFA

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue N0:3179 of Thursday July 25, 2024