“I have been dreaming about these gemstones for 11 years. “My ancestors revealed their existence to me through dreams,” says Sagacious Dangaranga, a farmer who, last winter, began extracting lithium from his communal lands in Nyagore, a village in Mutoko, east of Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe. .
In Mutoko, a rural mountainous district, black granite, a highly sought-after stone used in houses, kitchens and buildings, has always been quarried. But last year, lithium was discovered, a silvery-white metal considered the new gold for its use in batteries for items such as laptops, phones and electric cars. In what has become known as the lithium rush, residents of this town like Dangaranga began to excavate their lands, using picks and shovels to extract the metal. “I hoped that in the future my life and that of my family would improve,” says Dangaranga.
Zimbabwe has the largest lithium deposits in all of Africa, According to the United States Department of Commerce, and is expected to meet 20% of the world's total lithium demand, which has skyrocketed in recent years, and is expected to quintuple by 2030.
Activists worry that only a few will benefit from the market's expansion. While the residents of Mutoko spend months waiting to be granted the licenses that the Government of Zimbabwe requires for all mining activities in the country, residents report that some private companies and unauthorized illegal organizations have preceded them and have begun to expel them from their lands to start their own mining operations.
Dangaranga says that just three months after he began digging, and while he was still waiting for his license, he was approached by an unidentified group of armed men who claimed to be the owners of the plot of land he had farmed for more than a decade and They forced her to give up, threatening her with a gun. He reported the appropriation of the land to the authorities, but assures that no arrests were made. “We used to grow corn on these lands,” he says. “We had gardens that we used to survive. Now all that has gone to waste, and we get nothing from mining activities.”
We used to grow corn on these lands. We had gardens that we used to survive. Now all that has gone to waste, and we get nothing from mining activities
Sagacious Dangaranga, farmer
Land grabbing and mining-induced displacement are widespread in Zimbabwe, where gangs and illegal miners – but also foreign investors and even the government – have been accused of forcibly removing thousands of people from their land. to facilitate extractive exploitations. In the town of Mutare, about 269 kilometers from Nyagore, more than 1,500 families have been forced to abandon their ancestral lands to make way for diamond extraction.
Critics accuse the government of selling off the country's valuable natural resources to foreign interests. According to a study from the London School of Economics, the systematic lack of transparency and accountability in managing Zimbabwe's natural resources, especially in the mining sector, has been a breeding ground for corruption. “Foreign companies contribute to corruption by bribing powerful officials to secretly grant them mining rights,” says Farai Maguwu, director of the Center for Natural Resources Governance, an organization that protects the rights of communities affected by extractive companies. . “Agreements are negotiated late at night. There is no transparency.” Zimbabwe's Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Winston Chitando, declined to respond to multiple requests for comment on the corruption allegations.
Biriat Tasarira, CEO of Mutoko Rural District Council, says there is no legal lithium mining in Mutoko. “It's a game of hide-and-seek,” he says. “Every time a team goes to investigate places where they find extraction machinery, the security personnel always respond that they are not extracting, but rather taking samples. They do not have any license for exploitation, and when the supposed owners are contacted by telephone, they always promise to show them, but it is of no use.” Michael Munodawafa, chief mining engineer at the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development, says the ministry is aware of how widespread illegal mining is and is working with law enforcement to clamp down on such operations. Munodawafa adds that local residents are often not aware of their rights. “Residents should ensure that the people who come to mine have the proper registration certificates from the Ministry of Mines, because many of them are not authorized and may have fake certificates,” he says.
Although evictions are often the result of threats and intimidation, mining companies also promise financial compensation to convince locals to give up their land. Tambudzai Chigayo, 40, found lithium near his house in Mudzi district, about 70 kilometers from Mutoko. At first, she started digging on her own, but when a company specialized in the extraction of tantalite and lithium offered her $15,000 (almost 14,000 euros) for her and her family to move, she accepted. Now, Ella Chigayo admits that the deal she made is not worth what she has lost. “It's not enough to make up for the loss of my house, my trees, my farmland and our history, which is inherent to this place,” she says.
Others seem happy with their relocation arrangements. Raymond Butau, 25, is finishing a new house and clearing his fields. “Before we lived in the area that is now being exploited. They offered us houses or 10,000 dollars (9,200 euros) in cash and, in February of this year, we decided on money,” says Butau, who adds that the cash he received is enough to build a good life for him and his small family. . Fombe Gobera, 83, chief of the village where the mining company is located, says the displacement of people from his ancestral lands has been a serious problem. “So far, five families have received money to move to pave the way for lithium extraction, but others remain in the mining area and are being greatly affected,” explains Gobera. Kenneth Mutepfura Kapfunde, 89, says a rock from the mine blasting hit his house and his son's grave, causing it to crack. “Every day we inhale dust and live in fear of the stones that constantly burst and fly over our yards and houses,” he says. Despite the difficult situation, the idea of moving worries Kapfunde, who has lived in his home since 1956.
Josephat Chiripanyanga, a doctor based in Harare, believes that this situation will have a negative impact on the health of the population. “Living in a place where mining is practiced will cause people to inhale a lot of dust, which will predispose them to suffer respiratory problems,” says the doctor. He adds that exposure to dust could lead to long-term complications, such as lung cancer. “People should not stay or live near mining areas,” he warns.
Paradzayi Hodzonge, director of Environment Africa, an NGO working to protect Zimbabwe's natural resources, says uncontrolled lithium mining can also have devastating consequences for the environment, as excavation operations cause soil erosion and formation of ravines. “Excavated areas become a danger to people and animals when they fill with water,” explains Hodzonge. “In some cases, these stagnant ponds become breeding grounds for mosquitoes, causing the spread of malaria.” In Nyagore, Dangaranga's village, mining operations encroached on the land of a secondary school and formed ravines. Neighbors are now concerned that child
ren could fall into these wells, especially during the rainy season.
Tasarira says that during public consultations, miners with prospecting licenses always make many promises to communities, including those related to environmental rehabilitation, but they almost never keep their word. “So far we haven't seen any promises come to fruition,” she says.
Dangaranga, who lost his fields to mining, hopes to at least see his rural home developed thanks to the discovery of lithium. “What we need is for value to be added to the extracted lithium, for final products to be manufactured here and for jobs to be created for the local population. With that, we would have won as a country,” he says.
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