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Momodou
Denmark
11512 Posts |
 Posted - 14 Jun 2020 : 00:13:34
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Gov’t, GACH and Mining for minerals: Where are the $ millions
Malagen's investigation into black sand mining in Gambia shows nothing changes under the new government
Malagen: JUNE 13, 2020
By Mustapha K Darboe
https://malagen.com/investigations/govt-gach-and-mining-for-minerals-where-are-the-millions/
In briefs
In 2017, few months after assuming office, Adama Barrow-led government launched an inquiry into the ‘corrupt practices’ of exiled former president, Yahya Jammeh. The mining sector was a big part of that investigation. But even before the inquiry was wrapped up, the government awarded licence for resumption of mining and sold off the assets put on freeze.
In 2018, when President Barrow faced questions about the awarding of mining licence, he claimed that he forgot the name of the company that was awarded the license. It turns out that company is GACH Mining, a limited liability entity whose de facto owner is his close associate
Investigation by Malagen reveals that in three years of operations… the company exported more than sixteen thousand tonnes of heavy mineral sand, generating a conservative revenue estimates of US$2.4 million (approx. D124.9 million). Out of that, only US$293 thousand (D15.1 million) – less than 13 percent of the revenue – has been paid to the government as royalties.
Investigation by Malagen further reveals that GACH Mining has been operating without environmental clearance and, from a conversative estimates, owes a potential tax liability of more than D2 million (approx. US$40,000), having never paid tax since inception in 2017 and does not even keep a tax file with the tax authorities.
Read more at: https://malagen.com/investigations/govt-gach-and-mining-for-minerals-where-are-the-millions/
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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toubab1020
12237 Posts |
Posted - 14 Jun 2020 : 10:20:41
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Business is Business, the world over it appears that this phenomenon is alive and thriving in "The NEW GAMBIA"
Enough Said .
“Trade has been a cornerstone of our growth and global development. But we will not be able to sustain this growth if it favors the few, and not the many.” – Barack Obama |
"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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kiwi
Sweden
660 Posts |
Posted - 14 Jun 2020 : 13:40:13
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Where is this mining site?
What mineral makes this black sand so valuable? |
kiwi |
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Momodou
Denmark
11512 Posts |
Posted - 14 Jun 2020 : 16:08:16
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Kiwi, it’s at Sanyang. The black sand is said to contain rutile, Ilmenite and Zircon.
Try an read the article, it’s long but well researched.
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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kiwi
Sweden
660 Posts |
Posted - 14 Jun 2020 : 16:49:54
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| Thanks Momodou, I will try to read it. |
kiwi |
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toubab1020
12237 Posts |
Posted - 18 Jun 2020 : 11:37:03
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Opps, sorry about that .
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https://foroyaa.net/gach-pays-govt-over-d33-million-as-royalty/
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By Momodou Jarju June 17, 2020
The Minister of Energy and Petroleum, Fafa Sanyang, has revealed to lawmakers that the Gambia Angola and China Company (GACH) Company has paid slightly above 649 thousand United States Dollars to the Gambia Government as royalty since its issuance of license in 2017.
This amount is more than thirty-three million Gambian dalasis (D33, 099, 053.04).
Minister Sanyang made the statement on Wednesday in Banjul during the second ordinary session of the national assembly in the 2020 legislative year, while responding to a question raised by the Majority Leader and member for Kombo South, Kebba K. Barrow, on the total amount of money GACH paid to the Government to extract black sand in Sanyang.
In respond, Minister Sanyang said: “Since the issuance of mining license, GACH Company paid a total of $649, 001.04 as royalty for the State for the shipment of almost 15,386.45 metric tons of heavy minerals concentrate.”
Earlier asking on GACH’s operation, Serrekunda lawmaker, Halifa Sallah questioned the minister to explain how much has been derived from the mining of minerals at the original sites of Kartong, Baatakunku and Sanyang by the investors in particular and the State in 2019. He further asked for an explanation on what has been done with the funds accrued.
Responding to the question, Energy Minister Sanyang said Sanyang is the only site being mined as of 2019 and that mining is yet to take place in Kartong and Baatakunku.
He went on: “Net income derived from the shipment of 4,617.85 metric tonnes of heavy minerals concentrate stands at $323, 280 dollars (this about D16, 480, 280.00). In line with license conditions, the royalty of $1,993.93 (D101, 690.43) was paid to the State by GACH which represent 60% of the net income. The State royalty is lodged in an account with the Central Bank under the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs.”
Brikama North lawmaker, Alagie S. Darboe quizzed the minister to inform the assembly what is holding the commencement of mining in the two aforementioned sites.
In his response, energy minister Sanyang said mining is done sequentially, saying if the first site is not exhausted, the miners cannot abandon that site and go to the other.
“So you have to mine, exhaust and continue,” he added.
Upper Fulladu lawmaker, Dawda Kawsu Jawara, asked the minister to inform them the mechanisms put in place to ensure after the miners exhaust the areas of mining, the land could be reused for agricultural purpose.
Minister Sanyang said they conduct environmental assessment at the beginning and that there are plans to rehabilitate the sites. He further said before the end of the mining, the area would be mapped and plan for its rehabilitation.
“Sometimes when you do the physical assessment at the beginning, at the end it will defer. When we mined Sanyang for example and move out of Sanyang, then we will do assessment and then we work together with other partners. That is the environment agency… and also we consider the market gardeners, then we plan for the rehabilitation,” he said.
Sulayman Saho, Central Badibou lawmaker asked the minister to inform the assembly whether the funds generated from the mining can benefit the communities in question.
In response, the minister said some of the benefits the communities generate from the mining activities include employment and social corporate responsibility- where the company ploughs back to the communities by initiating certain projects in the communities.
“We don’t encourage physical cash because it might create problem. Communities will come up with projects and they (companies) would implement the projects. I think that is going on,” he said.
Brikama South lawmaker, Lamin J. Sanneh, asked the minister how sure is he that the communities are benefiting from the social corporate responsibility he talked about.
The minister said most times communities make demand, requesting assistance on an area, and then the company will help. He added that it is within the general principle that the company provides assistance to communities around the mining site(s).
“When it happens, we get information from the company that we have done A, B, C to a particular community,” he said.
Minister Sanyang was further asked to inform the members how much money was being spent on social corporate responsibility to the community of Sanyang from the amount generated by the government.
He told the members that he doesn’t have that data, however, he said the money the company makes and the royalty paid to the government are not part of the social corporate responsibilities.
“So the company can always give us how much it spent. But I don’t have that figure and we don’t ask for that. I know that corporate social responsibility works with the community. But it is not part of the license that the company should provide this amount to the community,” he said.
Majority Leader Barrow urged the minister to revisit the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to ensure that the community benefits from the activities the miners are embarking on within their communities.
Asked by Wuli East lawmaker, Suwabou Touray, whether the government provides royalty to the community since the company does not, the minister responded in the negative
Speaking further on rehabilitation of sites, Minister Sanyang said rehabilitation is at the expense of the company. But if the company fails, he went on, the Government will take over the burden to rehabilitate the mined areas.
He however noted that social corporate responsibility is between the company and the affected community.
Currently, the minister said there is no clear cut policy to address the issue of social corporate responsibility between the company and communities. However, the minister said there are plans to develop a policy that will provide guidelines on social corporate responsibility.
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"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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Momodou
Denmark
11512 Posts |
Posted - 24 Jun 2020 : 13:44:26
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Minister maintains GACH paid gov’t $600, 000
Standard: June 24, 2020
By Omar Bah
https://standard.gm/minister-maintains-gach-paid-govt-600-000/
The Minister of Energy has maintained that GACH Group paid $649, 001.04 to government, despite reports that only $293, 000 is in the mining accounts.
Last week, Energy Minister Fafa Sanyang informed lawmakers that GACH Group has paid $649, 001.04 as royalty to The Gambia government.
Asked to prove his claims at the parliament in a media briefing yesterday, Minister Sanyang replied: “We have proved of our claims that the money is paid to the Central Bank. It is like any revenue; when money goes to the CBG we don’t have any access or authority to it.
When we go to the parliament we can only tell them a certain amount was paid to the government but we will not be able to tell how much is in the accounts. The CBG should be able to answer where and how that money was spent.”
“It is worthy of mention that accurate information on the amount of royalty paid by GACH to government has always been given by the minister to the National Assembly at the time of questioning by deputies. Since the issuance of licence, GACH Company has paid the
amount of $649, 001.04 as royalty to the state for the shipment of 15,386.45 metric tons of Heavy Mineral,” Minister Sanyang added.
He said the amount paid to government represents 60% of the net profit after the deduction of operational costs (mineral extraction, transportation, freight, port handling charges, labour, etc.) incurred by GACH.
“The licensee (GACH) was required to provide a bond of $30, 000 as guarantee for the rehabilitation of the affected areas after mining operations,” he added.
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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toubab1020
12237 Posts |
Posted - 24 Jun 2020 : 16:54:31
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Thank you Minister for the "Clarification" ,I think I understand now............ except perhaps..................... |
"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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Momodou
Denmark
11512 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jun 2020 : 03:32:04
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Response to issues raised in Malagen article
At Malagen, we’re motivated by public interest, thorough in our investigations and balanced and fair in our approach and presentation. And we therefore stand by facts stated in our story.
Malagen: JUNE 22, 2020
By Gach Mining Company
We read with great interest the piece published on the 13th of June 2020 on news website Malagen titled Gov’t, GACH and Mining for Minerals: Where are the millions. While we disagree with the contents of this piece, we must state that we do not feel the author’s intentions bore any malicious content and indeed commend his investigative and writing style. If the contents were accurate then the piece would’ve been a Pulitzer price contender. In exercise of our right of response and in line with the principle of audi alteram partem, we put forward the following.
The introductory part of your article painted a tear-jerking picture of a widow struggling to feed her family in the face of an antagonistic mining company. The reality cannot be further than that. It is admitted that there are farmlands on the eastward periphery of the Mining Area. We however note that a few of the farmlands fall well within geological zones and squarely within the coordinates of the mining area as provided for in our mining license.
In the course of mining in 2019 we noted that the area being farmed by Binta Bojang was in the direct path of the mining dredger. Although the said area falls well within the mining area, we initiated negotiations with Ms. Bojang with regards to any losses that she may suffer. Based on an assessment of the land size and the nature of crops being grown proposed an amount D150,000 as compensation for the harvest she would have lost during that farming season, as a result of our activities. Ms. Bojang however made a counter proposal that we compensate her D5,000,000 which we found unreasonable. In spite of several discussions Ms. Bojang stuck to her proposal of D5,000,000 and will not bulge.
Even though the mining area falls well within the coordinates of the Mining Area, and in order to avoid causing any undue hardship on Ms. Bojang mining plans were tweaked to create make a detour around her this particular area, ensuring that her farm was unperturbed. It should be noted that the detour resulted in extra cost to our operations and left behind considerable mineral resources in the said farmland. It is clearly understandable why we find the assertions in this article to be misconceived. A clear look at the picture utilised in the piece shows a periphery fence around Ms. Bojang’s farm and a considerable buffer between this periphery and mining activity.
Read the rest here: https://malagen.com/columns/opinion-commentary/response-to-issues-raised-in-malagen-article/ |
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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toubab1020
12237 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jun 2020 : 10:18:10
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| This exposee for me explains a good neighbour policy that was adopted when negociations could not reach an amicable result between parties,it is also understandable that a giant mining operation on your doorestep of your own peaceful farmlands is not what you want. |
"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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Edited by - toubab1020 on 28 Jun 2020 13:28:15 |
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