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Depth of Illegal Mining by Chinese Company in Akwa Ibom Exposed

Depth of Illegal Mining by Chinese Company in Akwa Ibom Exposed

 

 

 

By Ekemini Simon 

 

 

Peace Point Development Foundation, a Civil Society Organisation working to promote fiscal and environmental justice and protection of marginalized communities in Nigeria has issued a report that has exposed illegal mining activities by a Chinese company, Ruitai Mining Limited.

 

The report captioned “Dirty Investment: Unveiling Illegal Mining by Chinese Companies in Nigeria ” and presented to the Public on Friday in Uyo had shown how some mining companies owned by Chinese nationals are breaching the Nigeria Mineral and Mining Act among other environmental laws and also short-changing their host communities.

 

Caught in Illegal Mining 

 

 

With reference to Ruitai Mining Limited, the report said the operations of the company remained in the dark until August 28, 2023, when the Akwa Ibom State Government officials embarked on an unscheduled inspection tour of the mining site of the company after receiving a tipoff of the company operating in its domain without knowledge.  The report said the team discovered black clay-like minerals contained in hundreds of sack bags of 50kg, and described by the miners as Titanium Ore.

 

The report noted that according to the Mining Licence received from the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development, Ruitai Mining got an exploration license for their mining operations of ilmenite, Titanium, Iron ore in Ibeno effective October 23, 2023 with expiry date of October 22, 2026. The report noted that the date on the licence implies that the company had started mining long months before they got the license.

 

The report added “With the effective date of the mining, it is suspected that it is the exposure by the Government of Akwa Ibom State that prompted the company to get their license two months later.”

 

 

Concerns over Mining Near Watercourse 

 

The report said when the team of researchers had visited the company’s mining sites in Ibeno, they noticed that the company is carrying out its mining at the shoreline of the Qua Iboe River and as a result they noticed that the minerals (Black substance) are washed down the river thus posing a threat of contamination of the water body which serves as the community’s source of livelihood through fishing.

 

“We also noticed random surface mining across the communities including the area developed at the beach.”

 

Communities only aware of Titanium/ Iron Ore Mining 

 

 

The report said although what the public know is that the host community of the company is Ibeno and it has licence to mine only Titanium while the CDA signed by the Community and the company shows that they are aware of Titanium and Iron Ore, checks at the Nigeria Mining Cadastre shows that Ruitai Mining has four exploration licence and two quarry lease to mine Titanium, Iron ore and ilmenite in three local government areas( Nigerian Mining Cadastre Office, 2024)

Bagged minerals mined by Ruitai in Ibeno

The report said ” The Company’s exploration license 40456 covering 84 square metres in Eket and Ibeno is for Titanium and Iron ore. Exploration license 55477 covers 13.23 square metre in Ibeno and Bakassi is for Ilmenite.

 

“Quarry Lease with code 55580 covering square metres of 5.25 in Ibeno is for Ilmenite. Another Quarry Lease with code 56330 covering 5.25 square metres is for Ilmenite in Eket and Ibeno. When our team met with the community in Ibeno including the Paramount Ruler, they noted that they are only aware of Titanium Mining.”

 

 

Failure to conduct Environmental Impact Assessment 

 

The report said despite the company’s licences, Ruitai Mining is in breach of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Act of 1992 which demands Environmental Impact Assessment to be conducted before any mining operation takes place. According to the report, their finding has revealed that the company has not conducted the Environmental Impacts Assessment (EIA) in its mining operations.

 

“The Federal Ministry of Environment told us they do not have the EIA of Ruitai Mining Limited. The community too said they were not involved in any EIA hence do not have a copy of the document.”

 

Community short-changed by CDA

 

The report pointed out that although there is a Community Development Agreement between the community and the company in line with the Mining Act, the community has been short-changed.

 

” According to the CDA obtained by the Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals, the CDA between Ruitai and Ibeno is dated September 13, 2023 and it is only for the Exploration License 40456 EL for the mining of Titanium and Iron Ore. There are no other CDA for the other 3 mining licenses especially for ilmenite.

 

“Even at that, the CDA in place has not been implemented in line with agreements.”

 

The report highlighted some of the breached CDA to include ” It shall create employment opportunities for the qualified and competent indigenes from the community up to 60% of its total workforce both skilled and unskilled in the first year (2023) of signing this agreement.

 

“The Company shall tar the 10km access road from the Community to the Beach. towards Inua Eyet Ikot in Year 2023

 

” The Company shall give annual scholarship to thirty (30) secondary school students who are also indigenes of the Community at the rate of fifty thousand naira per person (N50, 000) till the expiration of this agreement.

 

“The Company shall annually provide assistance to 10 fishermen from within the host community of these with the sum of One Million Naira only.”

 

 

The report said In all the provisions of the CDA, their finding from the community members showed that the company has only provided a borehole to one community and have also provided exercise books to primary school children although the community is unable to quantify the amount of if is up to N2,000,000 as contained in the CDA.

 

The report added “With many unfulfilled agreements, it is safe to state that the company has breached the agreement. It is also questionable that the company in the CDA include projects up to 2028 when their license will actually expire in 2026.

See Also

 

The report queried the intention of Provision VI in the CDA noting that it goes further to handicap the community against seeking legal remedy anytime their right is abused. The report referenced the provision as ” The community shall not join or align itself against the company in any litigation or arbitration with a third party and who is not a party to this Agreement”.

 

In its recommendation, the report added ” There is an urgent need for the Mines and Inspectorate Department together with the Environmental Compliance Department of the Ministry to be strengthened. It appears there is a huge oversight gap hence the reason the companies have treated with levity the provisions of the law and also fail to implement the CDA they have covenanted to implement.

 

” Section 131 (a) defines illegal mining as “A person who….

(a) conducts exploration or mines minerals or carries out quarrying operations otherwise than in accordance with the provisions of the act;”

(d)removes, possesses or disposes of any mineral contrary to the provisions of this Act, commits an offence.”

 

“Ruitai Mining did not get a license from the Mining Cadastre Office as at when they started exploring for Titanium in Ibeno.

 

“What is more, C part of the Section provides ” In any report, return or affidavit submitted in pursuance of the provisions of this Act, knowingly gives an information which is false or misleading or fails to declare in any material particular”.

 

“By having a CDA for only one exploration license for Titanium and Iron Ore, the company misled its host communities whereas it is mining ilmenite with other three licenses.

 

“By breaching the law, the sanctions provided for in section 133 of the NMMA should immediately take its course. It provides ” A mineral title holder who is guilty of an offence under 131 is liable

to have his license revoked and on conviction at the first instance, to a fine not less than 20,000.000,00; and imprisonment of not less than five years, if the offence continuing one, whether or not it is a first offence, the person convicted shall, addition, be liable to a fine of 20,000.00 in respect of each day during which offence continues.

 

” Ibeno Communities and other relevant host communities acknowledged by the Mining license should immediately engage with Ruitai Mining to comply with environmental laws, come clear on the truth about their licenses and adhere to the CDA.

 

“The host communities should create a cordial relationship with the CSOs for guidance on how to engage with relevant companies, authorities for their right to be upheld.

 

“There is a need for the CSOs and media to expose the observations noted in this report thus serve as deterrence to other mining companies.”

 

The report noted that a Freedom of Information Request to Ruitai company for clarifications on the issues was received and acknowledged by the company on August 26, 2024 but was never responded to.

 

Checks at the Corporate Affairs Commission shows that Ruitai Mining Limited has Huang Ying with 60 percent shares of the company while Zeng Zhonghuan holds 40 percent shares.

 

 

 

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