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QIT Madagascar Minerals (QMM) mineral sands mine restarted production recently after a five-day halt. The restart of the mine was only after reaching an agreement with demonstrators who had set up roadblocks at the site
QIT Madagascar Minerals (QMM) mineral sands mine restarted production recently after a five-day halt. The restart of the mine was only after reaching an agreement with demonstrators who had set up roadblocks at the site.
Communities surrounding the mine in southeastern Madagascar have been protesting over the release of water from the mine site, which polluted the surrounding environment. People living near the mine said that they had found dead fish in the waters. However, the mine authorities said that water sampling data showed no link between the water release and the cause of dead fish. But local government authorities banned fishing in the area after the dead fish were found. This has adversely affected the livelihood of the local population. This forced QMM to curtail operations on May 18 due to community unrest.
Following an agreement signed recently between QMM, the authorities, and demonstrators, all roadblocks were dismantled enabling QMM to resume operations. QMM said that it started giving food supplies in mid-March to the surrounding community of between 5,000 and 7,000 people, despite the data showing no direct link between QMM activities and the dead fish.
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The company would build a water treatment plant and develop clean water projects for surrounding communities. The new process water treatment unit will be in place by the middle of this year. QMM produces ilmenite, which is shipped to a Rio Tinto plant in Quebec to be processed into titanium dioxide.
