NEW ANALYSES OF WATER QUALITY AND RADIATION STUDIES ON THE RIO TINTO/QMM MINE IN MADAGASCAR

Aerial view of the QMM mine in 2023

Following the public release of the QMM Water Report 2021-2023 and the 2023 JBS&G radiation report, the Andrew Lees Trust (ALT UK) requested independent hydrology and radioactivity experts to review the studies and their findings.

The experts’ analyses have now been published by ALT UK and show that ongoing vigilance and caution are necessary with regard to water quality and radiation exposure – especially for the most vulnerable groups, around Rio Tinto’s QMM mineral sands operation in southern Madagascar.

The independent hydrology and radioactivity experts’ analyses are now available on the ALT UK website HERE

Nothing in the 2023 QMM or JBS&G reports have been found to confirm or assure that the mining company yet has the QMM contamination and water quality management issues under control, or support its claims. This is signified, in part, through data quality problems and study limitations that are explained, in summary, in our latest March 2024 Briefing, together with ongoing transparency challenges (eg Rio Tinto/QMM’s withholding of relevant studies).

See the March 2024 Briefing on QMM ENGLISH VERSION here

VERSION FRANÇAISE de Briefing disponible ici

Water quality around QMM has been a concern for local communities for many years, including in relation to livelihood losses and health, and consequently at the root of multiple protests and conflict in the region. The conflicts have given rise to wider human rights violations and concerns around the Rio Tinto/QMM mine.

ALT UK with Publish What You Pay Madagascar continue to press Rio Tinto, the parent company of QMM, for an independent water impact assessment that could offer a neutral and inclusive process (for communities and stakeholders) and provide the basis for improved transparency around QMM water quality, help build informed consensus, resolve and remediate issues, and thereby promote greater stability in the region.

The Trust is also collaborating with other civil society actors who are raising issues about water quality and water governance around Rio Tinto mines in other locations, both for proposed, existing and legacy mine sites. They are all, alongside the company’s investors, pressing Rio Tinto for a commitment to independent water impact assessments and for appropriate remedial actions identified through such processes.

A recent article about Rio Tinto’s aluminium facilities in Canada exposes a whistleblower’s insights about the company’s alarming behaviour in relation to water management, and highlights the need for increased transparency and governance around water at Rio Tinto operations around the world – and around all mining operations globally. Water is life!

This research forms part of the Trust’s ongoing advocacy work in solidarity with Malagasy civil society and local communities in Madagascar.

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CONFLICT AROUND THE RIO TINTO QMM MINE IN 2023 RESULTED IN ARRESTS, IMPRISONMENT, AND IN THE DEATHS OF THREE LOCAL PEOPLE.

Protestors on the road to Mandena during an Independence Day protest, June 2023

Protestors raising issues about the QMM mine in June 2023 were met with armed police and military force. 127 protestors were arrested and 87 reportedly incarcerated, including women. One of the women was seven months pregnant.

Subsequently, in October 2023, while protesting against the status of their local association leaders who had been charged with ‘undermining state security’ for the June protest, three local protestors were shot dead by state police. One was a 45 year old female domestic worker. There was an almost total media blackout of these events, and there has been no public inquiry into what appears to have been extrajudicial killings of protestors.

The Business and Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) has raised questions about the conflicts with Rio Tinto.  The BHRRC has now concluded the exchange with Rio Tinto on these matters and has published articles, responses from Rio Tinto, and the rejoinders from Publish What You Pay Madagascar (PWYP MG) and Andrew Lees Trust (ALT UK).

See all correspondence and Rejoinders  here on the BHRRC website.

Protestors carrying banners and flags

In June military were brought into Anosy from across the island to suppress the protests. https://fb.watch/qJdBpikv3g/

The following cases have been added to the BHRRC database on attacks against human rights defenders:

75 protesters

Ms Rasolonirina – LUSUD Association

Mr Damy – LUSUD Association

Mr Andriamamonjy Jean Salomon – LUSUD Association

Eugène Chretien – LUSUD association

6 protesters

5 trade unionists – Syndicalisme et Vie des Societes (SVS) Anosy and Sendika Kristanina Malagasy (SEKRIMA)

Laurent Manjary – LUSUD association

The local association LuSud that organised the local protests has not published its own account of the conflicts from locally gathered testimonies. With its leaders still in hiding under arrest warrants, and the criminalisation of protestors in general, it is unclear who can or will want to take responsibility for issuing any formal statements for the local association.

The Malagasy diaspora organisation Collectif TANY has issued various statements about the conflict and continues to seek justice for local people affected by these events.

https://www.terresmalgaches.info/newsletter/article/newsletter-no195-des-mandats-d-arr%C8%87t-lances-contre-deux-responsables-de-l?recherche=QMM

translation available here: –

https://londonminingnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/COMMUNIQUEE-COLLECTIF-TANY-2-JULY-2023-.pdf

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77,000 signatures calling on Rio Tinto to agree to an independent audit of water quality at the QMM mine in Madagascar

The Eko Petition is delivered to Rio Tinto offices in London in September 2023.

In September 2023, civil society actors, with the support of Eko, brought a petition of over 77,000 signatures to the offices of Rio Tinto demanding greater transparency on water quality and tailings management.

See details n The Ecologist article here

The Ekō petition follows two tailings dam failures at the QMM mine in 2022 with ensuing fish deaths, a fishing ban, and months of conflict.

The lack of a promised independent investigation into the tailings dam failures compounded existing needs for an external investigation into water management at QMM, in particular regarding the QMM tailings dam safety, and QMM’s management of their tailings and mine process wastewater.

There have been four tailings dam failures since the QMM mine operations began and two have resulted in publicly reported fish deaths.

The company promised an external investigation into the dam failures in 2022. However, in 2023 it was revealed that QMM had only undertaken an internal inquiry with external assistance.

The shared QMM briefing papers 1 and 2 were wholly inadequate at explaining the root cause of the dam failures.

The company also promised an external study into the cause of the 2022 fish deaths – events that QMM has repeatedly claimed had nothing to do with the release of a million cubic metres of QMM mine basin water or the tailings dam failures.

As of February 2024 they have still not released the report of the fish deaths study, despite repeated requests. This withholding of information undermines the company’s commitment to transparency, UN Guiding Principles on Human Rights, and the promises they made directly to both civil society and investors.

Investors are pressing Rio Tinto for the Independent water impact assessments, with urgent priority at the company’s Mongolia and Madagascar ( QMM) mine sites. See here

The Ekō petition echoes the demand for independent audits of QMM made at the AGM in 2023 by Andrew Lees Trust (ALT UK) and Publish What You Pay Madagascar (PWYP MG).

The Andrew Lees Trust and Publish What You Pay Madagascar have been pressing the company to resolve multiple issues with QMM over the last seven years including:  water contamination from elevated uranium and lead and human rights violations around compensation processes.

Rio Tinto has declined multiple requests to accept an independent audit or impact assessment at QMM. Civil society continues to demand them.

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RIO TINTO AGM 2023 – a week of actions

Raising awareness, amplifying the voice of local communities and promoting human rights around the QMM mine in Madagascar

Ketakandriana Rafitoson (right) of Transparency International Initiative Madagascar holding a banner outside the Rio Tinto office in London, April 5th 2023 (image LMN)

This year’s AGM of the multinational mining giant Rio Tinto marked 150 years of the company’s global operations. As in previous years, the event afforded an opportunity to put questions to the Board and advocate for greater transparency and accountability about the company’s QMM mining operation in southern Madagascar.

Civil society representative Ketakandriana Rafitoson (know as ‘Ke’ – pronounced ‘Kay’), Executive Director of Transparency International Initiative Madagascar, which coordinates the Publish What you Pay (PWYP MG) coalition in Madagascar was supported by London Mining Network to visit London to attend the Rio Tinto AGM, accompanied by, the Director of Andrew Lees Trust (ALT UK), Yvonne Orengo.

Working together, and with community representatives, researchers and other campaigners, the PWYP MG and ALT UK advocacy campaign has brought attention to social and environmental problems around the QMM mine site. The most recent challenges that would be brought to the Rio Tinto 2023 AGM were highlighted in an article in the Ecologist in April:-

Read the Ecologist article, HERE

Questions raised at this year’s AGM focused first on human rights violations that have been reported from the ground during a recent compensation process by QMM. In particular, that gagging orders had been placed on local people during the the QMM negotiations, in direct breach of commitments Rio Tinto made after the Juukan Gorge inquiry to cease such gag clauses on traditional owners.

The QMM process was meant to address losses from the hardships and conflict created during a three-month fishing ban in 2022, after hundreds of dead fish appeared following two tailings dam failures and the release of a million cubic metres of mine waste water. Also, to remedy the negative impact of the mine on local livelihoods for more than a decade.

Further questions brought pressure on the company about the ongoing water quality issues and dam safety, central to community and environmental concerns around the QMM operations.

A Briefing paper was circulated to investors to summarise the key points, weeks before the AGM:

Download the Investor Briefing on QMM Madagascar HERE

The key demands of PWYP MG /ALT UK to Rio Tinto at the 2023 AGM: independent audits must be undertaken of the QMM compensation programme, water quality and dam safety.

QMM mine aerial view 2023 (image, Andrew Lees Trust)

Hear the questions and answers in the AGM recording: HERE reference points to the Q& A in the recording are : (1) PWYP MG question at 1.12.01 – 1.20.30 ( including response from Rio Tinto and follow up question) then (2) ALT UK question at 2.05.48 to 2.15.05 (including response)

Questions were also raised at the AGM about the competence levels at QMM by the Jesuit Missions ( See recording at 1.50.14), and also by the Local Authorities Pension Fund Forum (recording at 1.39.55) referring to the gagging clauses mentioned above.

The issues and demands from PWYP MG and ALT UK were taken to the Rio Tinto AGM in Australia a month later on May 4th (called in online), again pressuring the company to agree to independent audits.

Listen to the recording of the Rio Tinto Australia AGM : HERE with ALT UK Q&A at 54.36 – 57.08 including response

The company is declining to agree to independent audits while insisting its own internal processes are adequate.

At both the April (London) and May (Australia) AGMs, the new Chair of the Board, Dominic Barton, responded to the questions and made assurances that the company took the concerns about QMM seriously. He publicly asserted that when he joined the Board and heard the AGM questions about QMM last year, he prioritised to go and see the QMM mine in person and had met with communities in Anosy.

Rio Tinto’s response to PWYP MG/ALT UK Investor briefing: – See link on their QMM website page HERE

In London, Mr Barton asked the CEO of Minerals, Sinead Kaufman, to respond to the questions in detail. Ms Kaufman also met with PWYP MG and ALT UK the morning of the London AGM and expressed the position that the company wanted to conduct its own internal review of the compensation process at QMM before agreeing to any independent audit.

In Australia, Mr Barton mentioned that Rio Tinto had now created a written response to the issues raised (see link above). On the water issues, he explained that the company had “different views” about the water quality and ‘different data” but was committed to sharing data and to discussing the differences.

Hear the full Q&A using the London AGM and to the Australia AGM, and read the company’s written response using the links above.

A week of actions….

Campaigners and community activists hold banners outside the Rio Tinto offices, April 5th 2023 (image LMN)

During the week before and for some days after the London AGM, Ke’s visit to the UK afforded opportunities to meet with a number of investors and other organisations including the Church of England Pensions Board who, with UNEP, launched the Global Tailings Management Institute in January 2023. This afforded an opportunity to present the human rights issues around QMM’s compensation process and follow up on questions raised by ALT UK at the Global Tailings Summit about QMM mine tailings management.

Meetings were also held with the Publish What You Pay Secretariat based in London; Jesuit Missions, and the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on Human Rights.

With Nicole Piche of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Human Rights (third from right) at Portcullis House. Right to left: Ketakandriana Rafitoson of TI MG/PWYP MG, Yvonne Orengo of ALT UK, Roger Featherstone of Arizona Mining reform Coalition USA, Nicole Piche, then Zoe Lujic of Earth Thrive Serbia and
Nebojsa Petkovic of the Jadar Citizens Organisation Serbia. (image LMN)

Other events organised by London Mining Network took place with activists from Serbia and Arizona including a presentation at Amnesty International and a ‘mock trial’ outside the offices of Rio Tinto in London.

See the presentation at Amnesty HERE

Presentation about QMM impacts by Ketakandriana Rafitoson of TI MG (second from right) and Yvonne Orengo of ALT UK (right) at Amnesty in London, April 5th 2023 (image LMN)

See Ke at the Mock Trial HERE

Ketakandriana Rafitoson outside the office of Rio Tinto, 5th April 2023 (image LMN)

An interview took place with the Director for International Development at the Laudato Si Institute where Ke explained how her work sits within her beliefs as a practising catholic and the work of Jesuits advocacy project: Justice in Mining.

Read the interview with Ke HERE

Ke also engaged with media while in London and provided her thoughts about the QMM operation to the online magazine Mongabay, asking the question “what is QMM is willing to do in order to repair what they have destroyed?”

Read the article by Ke published by Mongabay in May 2023 : HERE

with LMN members during the week of action (image LMN)

We were very sad that Malagasy community representative Tahiry Ratsiambohatra, who was also meant to join the campaign in the AGM week, was unable to travel to London due to illness. Together with PWYP MG and ALT UK, Tahiry met with Rio Tinto executive in July 2022 and this was an opportunity for him to follow up on issues raised then and for new questions to be aired. Tahiry actively contributed to discussions and preparations for the activities in London with LMN and was missed.

London Mining Network (LMN) actions see here: https://londonminingnetwork.org/rio-tinto-people-climate-nature/

Huge thanks to London Mining Network and their team for all their work – and the photos above – and to all the helpers and participants at the London actions, as well as fellow activists and campaigners from Arizona and Serbia!

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Human Rights Defender Ketakandriana Rafitoson in the UK with ALT UK to hold Rio Tinto/QMM to account at company AGM

Ketakandriana Rafitoson outside the office of Rio Tinto, 5th April 2023

Executive Director of Transparency International Initiative Madagascar (TI-MG), Ketakandriana Rafitoson (Ke), who also leads the Publish What You Pay coalition in Madagascar (PWYP MG), was in London this past week to attend the 2023 Rio Tinto AGM.

Ke – along with TI-MG and PWYP MG teams – has been working in close collaboration with the Andrew Lees Trust (ALT UK) and with the generous support of London Mining Network (LMN) in order to bring community issues directly to the company’s Board of Directors, investors and shareholders in London.

The AGM event, and multiple meetings around it, have provided the opportunity to raise questions and concerns about human rights violations caused by the Rio Tinto mine in Madagascar, and with a specific focus on the transparency and accountability of the compensation process that has recently delivered to address livelihood losses experienced by local communities affected by the mining giant’s subsidiary, Qit Minerals Madagascar (QMM).

Aerial view of the QMM mine in Anosy region S Madagascar

Read the article here

It is just over year since two mine tailings dam failures at Rio Tinto’s QMM mine brought local fisherfolks’ lives to a halt when the appearance of hundreds of dead fish in downstream lakes precipitated a fishing ban.

Villagers were plunged into food insecurity and hardship, and the events led to months of conflict.

When resolution was finally brokered, in May 2022, it was agreed that QMM must compensate not just for losses caused by the fishing ban, but also for up to thirteen years of reported losses as a result of mining related activity at QMM.

A total of 8778 villagers submitted claims against QMM. The compensation process began in September 2022.

Months later, reports emerged that a number of human rights violations had occurred around QMM’s compensation to villagers, in particular that there had been intimidation and coercion at the start of the process, and an unexplained illegal detention of villagers at a local police station when they had gone to join negotiations.

See background information here

ALT UK and PWYP MG have been writing to Rio Tinto since last November, questioning the compensation process and raising multiple concerns about human rights violations.

In February 2023, the company finally responded to inquiries sent in a joint letter from PWYP MG and ALT UK in December 2022. The company asserted that the presence of a notary and mediator had ensured the QMM compensation process was acceptable to villagers.

However, an increased number of human rights violations were reported as the process advanced, and another letter outlining these was submitted to the company in March 2023

See additional letter to Rio Tinto March 2023 here

Based on current reports from the field PWYP MG and ALT UK, are demanding an independent audit of the QMM compensation process. Also for the tailings dam failures and water quality that are the central problems to villagers loss of livelihoods and reports of health impacts from the QMM mine.

Rio Tinto’s Board faced questions from Madagascar, Serbia, Arizona and Mongolia, where communities are struggling to deal with the ongoing power asymmetry that accompanies Rio Tinto’s mining projects, and the inevitable social and environmental consequences that follow, all of which require greater transparency and accountability.

Read the LMN joint letter to Rio Tinto here

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QMM MINE IN MADAGASCAR FALLING SHORT OF RIO TINTO’S COMMITMENT TO THE GISTM (Global Industry Standard for Tailings Management)

Adam Matthews (left), Chair of Mining 2030 Investor Agenda and Global Tailings Initiative and CRIO of Church of England Pensions Board introduces the Summit.

Last week the Andrew Lees Trust (ALT UK) participated at the Global Tailings Summit (GTS), hosted by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Church of England Pension Fund. The event was held over the fourth anniversary of the Brumadinho mine tailings dam disaster, which killed 272 people and left a legacy of social and environmental devastation.

The Trust requested an invitation to attend in order to raise questions about how the new Global Tailings Management Institute and the Global Investor Commission on Mining 2030 will address the dissonance between verbal commitments to the Global Industry Standard for Tailings Management (GISTM), made by mining corporations like Rio Tinto, and the realities on the ground, for example at Rio Tinto’s QMM mine in Madagascar.

DOWNLOAD 2 PAGE BRIEFING ON QMM DAM FAILURES HERE

According to Earthworks, mine tailings facilities, which contain the processed waste materials generated from mining metals and minerals, are failing with increasing frequency and severity.

The global standard (GISTM) was set up in 2020 to improve industry practice around mine tailings management, increase safety, adopt a zero harm policy and thereby prevent disasters like Brumadinho from occurring again. The newly launched Institute of last week aims to provide an independent auditing body to ensure compliance with the GISTM.

Rio Tinto is one of the largest mining companies in the world and has emphasised its role in helping to set up and promote the GISTM.

However, Rio Tinto’s commitment to the standard is under question at its QMM mine site in Madagascar where four tailings dam failures have occurred since 2010 with significant impacts on local communities.

READ ABOUT THE DEAD FISH AND THE PROTESTS HERE

The company claims it has “no tailings” and “no tailings dam” at QMM (AGM 2022), thereby raising questions as to how it will achieve the GISTM and any safety standards needed to protect the local communities living adjacent to the mine from tailings dam failures and mine process wastewater seeping and overflowing from the QMM mining basin.

Rio Tinto’s assertions about no tailings or dam at QMM contradict the Malagasy Government’s requirements under the mine’s environmental plan. This demands that QMM construct a berm 4m high and 30m wide in order to contain its mining basin waters and prevent them from entering the surrounding environment (e.g., downstream lakes). This structure has the operational function of a dam. The risks to the local communities if the tailings dam and its tailings are not safely managed are considerable.

Diagram of the QMM tailings dam – with english labels overlaying the original French version from the QMM Social and Environmental Management Plan (SEMP) 2014-2018, that was submitted to and approved by the Malagasy regulator, the National Office for the Environment (ONE).

Rio Tinto says it will reach compliance with GISTM at QMM by August 2023, but it is hard to see how this will be achieved if it does not admit that QMM has mine tailings nor a tailings dam.

Following two tailings dam failures at QMM in February and March 2022, and the release of a million cubic feet of mining basin water, hundreds of dead fish appeared downstream in lakes where local people fish for food and livelihoods. A fishing ban was imposed until the cause of the fish kills could be determined.

Collection of fish samples after the tailings dam failure in March 2022

Communities were plunged into food insecurity and lost their livelihoods as a result of the ban. Months of conflict ensued as villager’s usual survival strategies were compromised and they were left without sufficient aid and support to meet their daily needs. They were also scared to collect water from the local lake for drinking and domestic use, as is the practice for the majority of villagers living around the mine who still have no access to safe drinking water.

Multiple questions have been asked about the safety of the QMM tailings dam since 2017-2018, while the company was being held to account for breaching an environmental buffer zone and placing QMM mine tailings on the bed of adjacent Lake Besaroy, thereby exposing the local estuary system to mine contaminants, e.g., uranium and lead.

In addition to the breach, an independent risk assessment carried out by hydrology expert Dr Steven Emerman in 2018 deemed the risk of possible seepage and overflow from the QMM tailings dam to be “unacceptably high.”

Three of the four tailings dam failures have occurred at QMM since dam safety questions were raised with Rio Tinto about the QMM structure and tailings management.

Furthermore, in 2021, an analysis (Emerman 2021) of QMM’s Water Discharge Monitoring Data showed the “passive” or “natural” water management system at QMM appeared to be enhancing concentrations of contaminants in the mine’s settling ponds.

Rio Tinto conceded that the system was not working as expected and announced that QMM had, in fact, ceased discharging its mining basin waters as of August 2020 – a strategy only possible due to prolonged drought in the south.

The Anosy region, where the mine is located, is subject to frequent cyclones and heavy rainfall. In 2021, ALT UK and PWYP MG asked how the QMM strategy would work when the rains arrived? The answer came in 2022 with two tailings dam failures and an “exceptional release” of a million cubic metres of mining basin water (almost a billion litres).

The QMM mining basin and dredge

The concern about the extent to which contaminants from QMM mine tailings and process wastewater from the QMM mining basin is impacting local water quality has driven inquiry from local to international level since 2017.

Using QMM water data, independent studies by experts in hydrology and radioactivity identified elevated levels of uranium in the QMM mine basin, and elevated levels of uranium and lead downstream of the QMM mine 50 and 40 times, respectively, the WHO safe drinking water guidelines.

ACCESS INDEPENDENT WATER AND OTHER STUDIES HERE

Villagers have reported a noticeable degradation of water quality since the QMM mine operations began. They complain of increased illness and health problems. Fisherfolk have reported significant loss of fish stocks and disappearance of certain fish species since 2009, with a resulting loss to their livelihoods and income. Land fertility around the mine has also reportedly fallen over the last ten years.

A field study by Publish What You Pay Madagascar (PWYP MG) in 2022 captured the communities’ grievances and losses, including an estimated 45% loss of their usual annual revenues as a result of the detrimental impact of the QMM mine on local natural resources.

Fishing on the lakes and estuary around QMM for food and livelihoods

The 2022 tailings dam failures exacerbated local communities’ hardships as well as their frustration with QMM, and further eroded trust in the Rio Tinto joint venture in Madagascar, which has seen multiple outbreaks of conflict since operations began.

The conflict that followed the 2022 tailings dam failures was disturbing. In particular, to see QMM deny responsibility for the fish deaths and thereby distance itself from the ensuing community hardships.

Both publicly and internally Rio Tinto has claimed no environmental impact from the tailings dam failures. They have done this by citing two studies produced by the Malagasy water regulator, ANDEA, which collected fish and water samples after the dead fish appeared in March 2022.

The ANDEA studies were accessed by Andrew Lees Trust in collaboration with Malagasy civil society. They have been reviewed and critiqued by hydrology, mining and radioactivity experts, who highlight how the studies fail to provide data for various metals that should have been tested, e.g., mercury and lead, and that “conclusions drawn in the reports are not based on sufficient evidence” (Swanson 2022).

The ANDEA reports were never publicly issued by the Malagasy government. Nevertheless, Rio Tinto has referenced these reports to defend QMM’s position, even though they clearly lack scientific rigour, raising questions about the company’s international standards and integrity.

Radioactivity expert Dr Swanson provided her own independent analysis using all the available data, including from a previous QMM tailings dam failure with accompanying fish kills in 2018. She demonstrated that the most probable cause of the 2022 fish kills was the QMM mining basin water, being high in aluminium and with low pH – a combination that causes asphyxiation in fish. However, because some metals were not tested, questions remain.

One thing is more certain. After four years of demanding baseline water data for the region and being told by QMM there was none, the Trust’s research with PWYP MG uncovered a 2001 pre-mining water study in which data show there were no issues with uranium and lead levels in local waterways prior to mining (Hatch &Associates 2001).

Pre-mining chemical measurements of uranium in surface water around Mandena were mostly at readings of 0.0002 mg/l – 0.008 mg /l – and groundwater readings between 0.00005 – 0.00007 mg/l. The WHO safe guideline for uranium in drinking water is 0.03mg/l . Post-mining data include uranium in QMM mining basin water, process water and paddocks at maximum concentration of 2.029 mg /l . Downstream readings were highest near the QMM weir at 1.073 mg /l.

Rio Tinto has yet to answer to the comparison with pre-mining water indicators, as the company has repeatedly claimed that the elevated levels of uranium found downstream of QMM were all “naturally occurring.” The pre-mining baseline data shows this is not the case.

For the time being QMM focuses on the issue of the high aluminium and low pH in the process wastewater contained in the QMM mining basin. This is because QMM is not compliant for discharge levels of aluminium and cadmium in relation to Malagasy regulatory limits, so they cannot release their mining basin water without exceptional permission (as happened during the tailings dam failures in 2022).

There is no regulatory limit for uranium discharge in Madagascar and QMM’s pilot “treatment plant” for the high aluminium issue will not address high uranium and lead issues.

Access to information about the new pilot “treatment plant”, QMM water data, and other technical data has been an ongoing challenge for civil society, often taking months and anything up to a year or more of repeated prompts before QMM will release promised or requested information.

The difficulties to access data and reports from Rio Tinto/QMM bring the company’s transparency commitments to the GISTM into question.

For example, Rio Tinto/QMM promised that it would share the external evaluation of the tailings dam failures of 2022 with PWYP MG and ALT UK, and the findings with the Jesuits in Britain who raised questions at the Rio Tinto 2022 AGM. Almost one year later they still have not provided the report, but instead QMM issued summary papers to PWYP MG and ALT UK, which it claims present key findings:

SEE QMM REPORTING ON 2022 TAILINGS DAM FAILURES HERE AND HERE

These documents raise more questions than they answer, including how the “root cause” of a tailings dam failure and overflow incident is explained by the lack of inspection.

This and other pressing questions make it all the more urgent that QMM conform to the transparency commitments of the GISTM and other international standards.

The example of Rio Tinto’s subsidiary, QMM in Madagascar, offers a clear example of where the reality on the ground is not aligned with verbal commitments to the GISTM made by the parent company.

If companies like Rio Tinto, which positions itself to be a leader among the 26 ICMM members obligated to adhere to the GITSM and claiming to be at the forefront of change in the sector – if they do not adhere to the highest standards at all their operating sites, how will the remaining publicly listed mining companies be brought into line to accept and deliver improved practices and higher levels of responsibility and accountability?

The urgency of compliance – and the need for penalties for failure to comply – is all the more pertinent as the industry positions to increase mining exponentially to meet mineral demand for the energy transition.

Madagascar with its substantial mineral reserves against a backdrop of weak regulatory capacity, poor governance, high levels of poverty and human rights issues, risks to be one place where the absence of international standards such as the GISTM – or better still Safety First Guidelines for Responsible Mine Tailings Management – can only deepen hardships and catalyse conflict around mining.

Local Antanosy woman collects household water from the flooded areas around QMM after the mine tailings dam failure in March 2022 (Malina)
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RIO TINTO IN MADAGASCAR: CAN QMM’S GRIEVANCE PROCESS STAND UP TO SCRUTINY?

Local conflict resolution process in May 2022 to resolve disputes between villagers and QMM

Rio Tinto/QMM has released information about its recent grievance process and commitments agreed during a conflict resolution negotiation in May 2022 to address community losses and reduce tensions following months of protest.

See QMM PDF on the “doleances” process HERE

An analysis of the activity reported in the QMM PDF against international standards has given rise to questions and concerns. These have been sent to Rio Tinto by Publish what You Pay Madagascar (PWYP MG), Andrew Lees Trust (ALT UK) and an Anosy representative Tahiry Ratsiambahotra, who jointly attended a meeting with Rio Tinto in July.

See concerns about QMM’s process sent to Rio Tinto HERE

It has been more than four months since Malagasy government ministers negotiated the conflict resolution settlement between Antanosy protestors and Rio Tinto’s subsidiary in southern Madagascar.

The resolution process was designed to restore calm after months of protests by communities affected by an imposed fishing ban after dead fish were found downstream of QMM’s operations just days after a second mine tailings dam failure and the release of a million cubic metres of QMM mining basin process waters.

Read about tailings dam failures and dead fish HERE

Protestors gathered in Anosy in May 2022

At the time, QMM vehemently denied any link between mine process water quality released from its operations in March and the fish deaths, and claimed that government studies exonerated them. However, in response to a Memo by expert Dr Swanson on the probable cause of the fish kills, the company conceded “that it cannot rule out a potential link between the two events” (QMM response to Swanson Memo, June 2022).

Swanson determined that high levels of aluminium and low pH from the mine process water was the most probable cause of the fish deaths (anoxia), though other heavy metals were also of concern.

The fishing ban that followed the fish deaths left villagers without their usual source of food and loss of income from fisheries livelihoods for almost three months. During that time, community members occupied the Town Hall in Ft Dauphin, then later took to the streets. Finally, after failing to have their problems heard, they blocked the access road to the Rio Tinto/QMM mine and took hostages from regional security forces who were sent to evict them. 

The resolution process that followed required protestors to stop the road blockades. In contre partie the community made a series of demands which were agreed by QMM: firstly, to provide immediate cultural reparation to the communities by offering cows and rice for ceremonial cleansing after the shedding of blood – since some protestors had been hurt and arrested during the protests.

QMM also agreed to provide food aid that had initially been promised during the fishing ban but had not been delivered. QMM now report to have distributed emergency food aid to 7725 affected households in the Mandena area where the mine is situated.

Lastly, QMM were required to open a grievance process to address losses – not just for lost livelihoods during the time of the fishing ban but also for a decade of reported losses experienced by communities living around the mine .

See PWYP MG report on QMM impacts on communities HERE

Fisherfolk have been seriously affected by the fishing ban and by a decade of QMM’s impact on local water quality resulting in reduced fish stocks and loss of species

News came in July that 8778 villagers had submitted complaints and claims against QMM but these were being “filtered”, and that QMM was not planning to offer financial compensation but would offer instead work to those who had experienced losses.

Latest news from the ground suggests that not all claimants will receive compensation, and the process is lacking in transparency. More details are needed to better assess the process and the situation on the ground.

In July, 8778 local people submitted complaints against QMM and are claiming reparation.

It is in Rio Tinto’s interests to get the grievance process right. Critically, the parent company must not rely upon QMM’s self-reporting, and must resolutely ensure QMM avoids any further distress and conflict in Anosy.

Transparent reporting of the QMM complaints /grievance process in full, independent, impartial investigations and adjudications, and an independent evaluation and audit of the grievance process, in line with international standards, will be essential to restore trust in the company and longer term stability in the region.

Antanosy girls weaving Mahampy reeds, an important income generating activity for local families that has been affected by the QMM mine

Much depends on the effectiveness and fairness of the outcomes of this process for Rio Tinto/QMM to uphold and honour the resolution agreements made in May with the affected communities and Government representatives.

Importantly, the process is a real test of whether both Rio Tinto and QMM have actually “reset”, as claimed, and are now addressing QMM’s Community Social Performance (CSP) that suffers from a deficit of trust, since QMM has been failing rural communities in Anosy for almost two decades.

Read more about Rio Tinto/QMM issues in Madagascar HERE

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Rio Tinto in Madagascar: “the conflict is not over” as QMM receives more than 8000 complaints from villagers

Tahiry Ratsiambahotra of the Anosy Diaspora outside the offices of Rio Tinto in London

After months of crisis in Anosy following QMM’s mine tailings dam failures and the release of a million cubic metre of QMM mine basin water into the local environment with subsequent fish deaths and fishing ban, Rio Tinto’s CEO agreed to meet and discuss the issues at the London HQ.

Campaign partners Publish What You Pay Madagascar (PWYP MG) and Andrew Lees Trust (ALT UK) attended and, with support provided by London Mining Network, ALT UK also accompanied the Anosy Diaspora representative Tahiry Ratsiambahotra to the meeting to share community concerns directly with the Rio Tinto executive.

The meeting took place on 20th July and provided an opportunity to review pressing matters following the fish deaths and community crisis in Anosy, where thousands of villagers have been negatively affected by the mine, losing lands and livelihoods.

See Notes of Key Points delivered to Rio Tinto at the meeting on 20th July 2022 at the company HQ in London.

Conflict and complaints

After local protests and road blocks escalated into hostage taking in May 2022, solutions were urgently needed to resolve the crisis. Intervention from Malagasy Government ministers led to the setting up of a local commission with the Governor of Anosy and QMM to respond to complaints and address the rights of villagers to compensation for their losses – not just during the fishing ban but for impacts suffered over more than a decade of QMM operations.

Read the PWYP MG 2022 Report on the impacts of QMM on local communities HERE

By the time of the July meeting, 8778 complaints had been submitted to QMM from villagers, largely about loss of lands and livelihoods as a result of the mine operations. The commission is ongoing and outcomes pending.

QMM admits “the conflict is not over “ (Rio Tinto meeting 20/07/2022)

Villagers protesting about their losses outside the town hall in Ft Dauphin, April 2022

One major concern is the news that QMM does not intend to pay out monetary compensation to remedy losses, but will only offer work for pay. This is likened to someone smashing up your car only to be told by the person who did it that they will offer you paid work so you can save up to buy a new one….a form of neo-colonial enslavement that we fear will do little to resolve grievances and repair damages.

Demands on Rio Tinto

The compensation matter was raised at the meeting, together with a demand for a national commission on water quality around the QMM mine, as had been pledged by Rio Tinto in 2019 but has yet to materialise.

We continue to lobby for this national water commission and argue that it must be ongoing for the life of the mine, should include international as well as Malagasy technical experts, and ensure robust mechanisms for open engagement and transparent reporting to all concerned stakeholders.

We have also reiterated demands for Rio Tinto to address the need for independent verification processes and an audit of QMM operational matters, including on dam safety and tailing management, as raised at the 2022 Rio Tinto AGM in Australia. And we have urged Rio Tinto’s CEO, Mr Jakob Stausholm, to maximise his personal engagement in the QMM issues to advance meaningful solutions and change.

See : joint letter to CEO Stausholm

Technical issues : water quality and dead fish

Meanwhile Rio Tinto has yet to respond to a number of technical questions raised in June and July via email – including about the current trials for its treatment of elevated aluminium and low pH levels in mine basin water, the combination of which was deemed the most probable cause of the fish deaths by international expert Dr Swanson (April 2022).

In written exchange in June, the company conceded that it “cannot rule out a potential link” between the quality of QMM mine process water and the localised fish deaths ( QMM response to Swanson Memo, June 2022), something it adamantly refused to do publicly during the local fishing ban.

Additionally, it is not clear how this new QMM water treatment process will address other heavy metals of concern, such as uranium and lead, which have been detected in waters downstream of the mine at levels way above the WHO guidelines for safe drinking water.

With Rio Tinto finally responding to our repeated demands for the release of pre-mining water data (Hatch & Associates study, 2001) – data that QMM denied was available – the company will now have to explain the apparent contradiction between its claims that elevated levels of uranium in waters downstream of QMM is “naturally occurring” and the pre-ming data, which demonstrates that this is not the case.

The implications of these new data on the water quality contestations have yet to be addressed by Rio Tinto.

Ongoing challenges

Rio Tinto has made verbal assurances that it will address the social and environmental issues at QMM. More than this, we have asked what steps will be taken, by who and when, in order to make tangible and meaningful changes at QMM to improve its operations and social performance.

As villagers wait for the outcome of the commission and for their losses to be recognised and remedied, we ask what will now shape the evolution of the QMM mine to deliver a different, positive outcome for the people and the environment of Anosy.

Related Blogs:

http://www.andrewleestrust.org/blog/?p=2238 http://www.andrewleestrust.org/blog/?p=2309 http://www.andrewleestrust.org/blog/?p=2671

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Conflict ends, negotiations begin in Anosy

Deputy Perle and Protestors welcome the intervention of four Government Ministers to resolve the crisis between villagers and QMM since the fishing ban was imposed in March 2022

Settlement is underway after months of protests, road blocks, hostage taking and tear gas fired in the Anosy region. The conflict followed a fishing ban that left villagers without food security and livelihoods.

See article in The Ecologist here

The ban was put in place after hundreds of dead fish were found floating in the local lake shortly after  a mine tailings dam failure and controlled release of a million cubic metres of excess mine basin water from the Rio Tinto QMM ilmenite mine.

Four Malagasy Government ministers intervened after the conflict escalated and hostages were taken by protestors during clashes with the military. Protestors welcomed the ministers to Ft Dauphin on Friday 19th May.

An agreement signed by protestors, QMM and the government ministers drew a line under the immediate tensions. Importantly it was agreed there would be no more use of military against protestors. This represents a change to the socio-political dynamic in Anosy region where, over many years, protestors against the mine have faced the forces of order, been criminalised, arrested and fined if they took their complaints about QMM to the street.

Signing of the agreement 22nd May 2022

Road blocks and protests are a last resort. Complaints through QMM’s formal mechanisms have been unresolved or unsatisfactory. According to the new study by Publish What You Pay Madagascar, villagers report over 300 outstanding complaints about QMM related impacts have not been met with a response or meaningful solutions. Instead the majority feel intimidated if they raise issues or their voice against the mine.

See PWYP MG study report here

Recent lobbying by Andrew Lees Trust at the London and Australian AGMs of the parent company, Rio Tinto, has met with equally unsatisfactory level of response.

At Rio Tinto’s London AGM, in April, specific questions relating to villagers claims and QMM’s accountability around the dam failings and water quality issues were not answered. In Australia Rio Tinto sought to place the problems in the region on local agricultural practices, high birth rates and migration. Members of the Australian based research and shareholder advocacy organisation, ACCR, attended the AGM and noted the response. They issued a press release saying :

QMM is in danger of losing its social licence to operate. The situation in Madagascar appears to represent another failure resulting from  Rio Tinto’s degraded social performance function.” ACCR

A commission has been set up in Anosy to assess damages and scope compensation to villagers for losses, both those incurred during the ban and longer term losses to livelihoods.

The next weeks will be critical for providing meaningful remedy to the affected villagers.

Village protestors camped next to the Mandena mine site in May

Meanwhile, the Trust, which has been holding the company to account about its mine perimeters, dam safety and water quality in collaboration with Publish What You Pay Madagascar, and with research /advocacy support from London Mining Network, Rettet den Regenwald and other partners, has asked the company to 1) provide evidence of an EIA, SEMP and public consultations for its new treatment “plant” to manage mine basin waters, since the plans represent a change in project design and are therefore subject to these processes according to the Malagasy mining code; 2) to share baseline water data that QMM has denied existed for almost four years (research has yielded at least two references to pre-mining water studies) ; and 3) to share the Interface report, which is due to provide the outcome of an investigation into the QMM mine tailings dam failure in February 2022.

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FISH DEATHS IN ANOSY FOLLOWING QMM MINE WATER RELEASE : PROBABLE CAUSE

The Trust has been monitoring closely the events in Anosy region following the QMM mine tailings dam failures at Mandena in February and March, and the appearance of dead fish in the lake following the second overspill incident and an “exceptional” release of QMM mine process water.

Dr Swanson, who carried out an independent radioactivity review of QMM mine in 2019, has reviewed the available data, from recent sampling as well as from a previous study when similar events occurred (dead fish in the lake following a QMM overflow in 2018 ), and produced a Memo to explain the probable cause of fish deaths:

SEE SWANSON MEMO ON FISH DEATHS – Cause of Fish Kills After QMM Water Releases

The combination of acidic water and elevated aluminium in the water released from the QMM site is the most probable connection between the water releases and the fish kills observed after those releases.” Swanson Memo, 20 April 2022

Although water testing was carried out by the authorities shortly after the dead fish appeared in Lake Ambavarano, the first reports were unable to deliver a satisfactory explanation for the fish deaths, according to Dr Swanson.

While investigations are ongoing, the Governor of Anosy has imposed a fishing ban, which is exacerbating hardships and losses that fisherfolk have experienced since the arrival of the mine.

According to an announcement made locally, the state plans to construct its own laboratory in Anosy to assist water monitoring exercises. Meanwhile, Dr Swanson has provided a Memo to suggest actions that could assist those monitoring the immediate situation.

SEE SWANSON MEMO ON : Near Term Actions Regarding the QMM Release

We are releasing this information to assist local communities, civil society and Malagasy stakeholders to engage in an informed and meaningful way on these issues, and to support current and future monitoring exercises.

The Trust encourages open and transparent sharing of data and debate and supports Malagasy civil society in its role to promote and protect citizen’s rights to information and freedom of speech.

For further information about Aluminium see HERE

For further information and studies, visit the main website of the Andrew Lees Trust HERE

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