By Mabinty M. Kamara
As part of their monitoring function, the Parliamentary Committee on Mines and Mineral Resources on Saturday 5th March 2022 engaged the management of Marampa Mines Limited at the company's site in Port Loko district.
Speaking at the engagement, the Parliamentary Chairman of the Mines and Mineral Committee, Saa Emerson Lamina said their engagement was in conformity with their constitutional mandate and the importance of mining and economic growth.
The chairman said they were interested in community development action plan, job creation and compliance as well as other related matters. While assuring the company of their support, he also asked them to follow due diligence relative to community relations and create a better environment for miners, tax obligation and reassured of government support in light of the enactment of new mining laws.
The Chairman further reassured the company of a win-win situation and also appealed that they consider local content policy, in order to improve on strong host community relations and spoke about good investment opportunities for all.
In his statement, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Marampa Mines, Craig Dean recalled the litigation between the government and the SL Mining Company limited and went on to say, there is now a bridge between the latter and the succeeding company.
He assured the committee of a fruitful relationship with the host communities, local authorities, and government. He highlighted key projects' successes since they restarted operation and also explained their commitment to the government in light of payments of more royalties to the government, communities, and other related obligations.
According to him, mining operations including loading, stockpiling, rail and river transportation, and shipment were key activities adding that, they have done a million tons of export since they resumed operation in June 2021.
He also explained their constraints and challenges in light of limited resources to expand operations, and improve on the grading of their blue premier quality iron ore production by 50 percent in subsequent years. Change of control, the CEO said was very complex.
The CEO noted the expansion, needed access to the rail and port, implementation ongoing with government, several ongoing community development projects, and building sustainable and resilient projects amongst others.
Another success he said was that concession is expected to start in another area by 2023, but they need to have confirmation from the government.
He strongly emphasized the committee’s advocacy for government intervention to ensure that there is no monopoly over the use of the rail and went on to inform that the high-quality Marampa Blue ore deposit is expected to be mined for one hundred years.
Marampa Mines Deputy Country Manager, Husinatu Yilla assured MPs that education and training of staff and community on the health, environment, safety and gender issues form part of their operation. "We train our staff in order to meet the global demand," she said. The Deputy Manager disclosed that they have workforce strength of one thousand and two and do conduct mining operation that prides itself on a win-win situation with an in-country value.
Prof Sheikh Umar Kamara Director of Community Relations and Development said they were not only committed to supporting the communities but participating in the process. With the support of the presentation, he demonstrated photo evidence of donations to persons with disability, and other recipients.
He went on to say, provision of water supply to host communities is part of their Community Development Action Plan and assured that investing in community people was their major priority.
During the deliberation, the MPs did some investigations and proffered recommendations.
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