Critical transition minerals key to African development

Most Sub-Saharan African countries have critical minerals needed for the transition from high carbon to low carbon renewable energy sources. The critical minerals include bauxite, cobalt, copper, graphite, lithium, manganese, nickel, platinum group metals and rare earth elements. Some of the critical minerals are used in improving battery performance whilst others are used in the manufacturing of electric vehicles, wind turbines and other components needed for renewable energy industries.
 
IndustriALL Global Union, its affiliated unions that organize mine workers from Botswana, Ghana and South Africa, as well as ITUC Africa, took part in the discussions in conference sessions and plenary discussions. The unions emphasized the importance of beneficiating critical transition minerals to create jobs through investments and the setting up of manufacturing industries on the continent to process raw minerals. Further, regional value chains could be developed in battery manufacturing and electric vehicles value chains, and these could be linked to global value chains. 
 
Currently, most minerals are exported in raw form which brings low value to the exporting countries. The unions cited the African Mining Vision (AMV) as an important guiding policy document which promoted unlocking the value of minerals and urged African countries to include the AMV into their national policies. Among other recommendations, the AMV calls for a “sustainable and well-governed mining sector” which promotes economic development, health and safety, “gender and ethnically inclusive, environmentally friendly, socially responsible and appreciated by surrounding communities.” The AMV is also one of the policies that can stimulate inter-African trade and regional integration through the African Continental Free Trade Area.
 
The unions stressed the importance of adherence to international labour standards and why the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) decent work agenda should be included in discussions on the mining of critical minerals. On health and safety, noting that fatalities in the mining sector in South Africa, for example, were declining, in artisanal and small-scale mining conditions were worsening especially in countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo. Thus the calls from unions for the ratification of Convention 176 on safety and health in mines – ratified by only six African countries. 
 
Other key issues highlighted by IndustriALL and the unions included the adoption of mining standards that included multistakeholder interests like the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA) audits. The audits ensured that workers and community voices and interests were respected by mining companies.
 
The unions said communities should be at the centre of the multistakeholder approach because in most instances they were the rightsholders to the land on which the mines were located. To protect community interests, the mining companies should have inclusive environmental, social, and governance policies.
 
On human rights due diligence, the unions called for the adoption of mandatory measures as voluntary initiatives were difficult to enforce. However, the trade unions said they will continue to campaign for mining companies to include United Nations Guiding Principles on business and human rights in their policies.
 
Glen Mpufane, IndustriALL director for mining said: 

“A multistakeholder approach must be adopted on critical minerals and sustainable mining standards must be upheld to protect workers rights and interests.”

 
Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL assistant general secretary, said: 

“There is potential for job creation as the African continent has vast resources of critical minerals, but as trade unions we must insist on human rights’ due diligence and decent work so that workers and communities can enjoy the benefits. Governance of mineral resources is equally important to stop illicit financial flows and corruption which are taking away resources from development.”

Zambia ratifies Convention 190 to end violence and harassment at work

IndustriALL Global Union-affiliated unions in Zambia represent tens of thousands of workers across the energy, engineering, mining, cement, chemical, and manufacturing industries, where cases of workplace violence and harassment have been reported.

According to United Nations reports, one in three women and girls in Zambia have experienced physical violence, while 17 per cent have faced sexual violence. The reports attribute this to entrenched gender inequalities and patriarchal power structures, which are reinforced by social and cultural norms. These harmful practices—including domestic violence—are also prevalent in workplaces, making the fight against gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) a critical issue for unions.

To push for the ratification of C190, Zambian trade unions led national campaigns in cooperation with the Zambian Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) and engaged with the government through social dialogue.

Astridah Matau Phiri, director for workers’ education and training at the National Union of Commercial & Industrial Workers (NUCIW), highlighted the role of unions in securing this milestone:

“This is an important achievement for trade unions in Zambia. We relentlessly campaigned for the ratification of Convention 190. We are also grateful for the campaign toolkits developed by IndustriALL, which helped us raise awareness among workers on the importance of the convention.”

 NUCIW’s campaign efforts included workplace visits, leaflet distribution on stopping GBVH, and training shop stewards on addressing gender inequality and discrimination. The union emphasized the need to foster a workplace culture that respects workers’ rights regardless of gender identity.

IndustriALL regional secretary for Sub-Saharan Africa, Paule France Ndessomin, emphasized that ratification is just the beginning:

“The regional office urges Zambian unions to view ratification as an important first step. However, the real challenge lies in implementation. It is crucial to develop workplace policies aligned with ILO Recommendation 206 and to integrate C190 into national labour laws so that real change can take effect in the world of work.”

IndustriALL Global Union continues to support Zambian unions in their efforts to ensure the convention translates into tangible protections for workers.

IndustriALL affiliates in Zambia include:

Zambia’s ratification of Convention 190 is a step forward in the fight against workplace violence and harassment. Now, unions will shift their focus to ensuring its effective implementation and enforcement.

“Smoking them out” or legalizing artisanal mining in South Africa

The police said they are waiting to arrest the artisanal miners as soon as they surface to the ground as has happened to over 1000 miners. However, some were rescued using a rope pulley system – dehydrated and emaciated while a decomposed body was retrieved from the mine. Most of the artisanal miners are from Lesotho, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe and work alongside former South African mineworkers.
 
As part of Vala umgodi – Isizulu for close the holes – which targeted illegal mining, the police sealed entrances to the shaft trapping the miners who are also known as Zama-Zamas. With police presence, water and food supplies were cut off from reaching underground.
 
In response to appeals to send help to the underground miners by communities, minister in the presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshaveni said that the government will not rescue the “criminals.” She added that: “We are going to smoke them out; they will come out.”  

The statement was met with outcries from trade unions, human rights organizations, and community groups. However, a court order ruled that the government had a responsibility to protect human rights under the constitution, and to provide water and food to the miners. 
 
Mine rescue teams are now at the mine site to assist with rescue operations.
 
In a statement the Alternative Mining Indaba (AMI) said: 
 
“It is disheartening that in a constitutional democracy like South Africa, atrocities of this nature persist despite the country’s painful history of violent land dispossession and racial economic exploitation under apartheid. The current impasse marked by the aggressive presence of law enforcement fails to address the root causes driving people to risk their lives in abandoned mines.” The AMI says there are over 6,000 abandoned mines in South Africa which can be mined to support livelihoods for communities.
 
Phillip Mankge, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), acting deputy general secretary said: 
 

“As NUM we would like to put it categorically clear that we don’t support the statement. In fact, it is inhumane and irresponsible of the minister to utter such words when people are trapped underground.”

According to reports, artisanal miners dig gold worth over $8 million dollars per year. This gold is sold to markets in Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates.
 
The OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict Affected and High Risk Areas is applicable to South Africa considering the violence associated with ASM, as mining companies and their agents are buying gold from artisanal miners. Research and court cases have confirmed that heavily armed gangs and illegal mining bosses act as fronts for licensed buyers at national and international levels. Several Zama Zamas have been killed in turf wars between rival gangs, there have been shootouts between police and mine security, and cases of rape have been reported against them.
 
The NUM, an IndustriALL affiliate, said policy gaps on ASM have created situations in which artisanal mining is done by criminal syndicates. 
 
Kopano Konopi, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) provincial secretary for North West, where the mine is located, said: 
 
“COSATU believes the government should relook at the country’s mining policies, because the product produced by the so-called illegal miners finds a way into the market even though it is procured from them cheaply. Government should explore issuing artisanal mining licences to small-scale miners and cooperatives.”
 

“There are models that can be adopted for ASM in South Africa including implementing existing policies by the department of mineral resources. ASM must be formalized in ways that consider the country’s socio-economic conditions of high unemployment and poverty. Mining should not be only for multinational corporations but must benefit former mineworkers and communities as well,”

said Glen Mpufane IndustriALL mining director.

He further emphasized the recommendations in the African Mining Vision which states that positive benefits can be derived from ASM including sustainable livelihoods and poverty reduction.
 
 

South African metalworkers on strike over job losses at ArcelorMittal

The strike started with a picket at the AMSA plant in Vanderbijlpark about 70km south of Johannesburg.
 
With the retrenchments taking place just before the Christmas holidays, NUMSA an IndustriALL affiliate, says AMSA is “demonstrating inhumanity towards workers.” The union says this is evident through its refusal to engage on finding alternatives to the job losses such as giving the workers options for voluntary severance packages and early retirement. 
 

“Only a cruel and uncaring management can toss workers out into the sea of unemployment just before Christmas and this is why they must be strongly condemned! AMSA has effectively cancelled Christmas for these employees by rushing the retrenchments, thus deepening the misery for their families as well,” 

said Kabelo Ramokhathali, NUMSA regional secretary for Sedibeng.
 
According to NUMSA, during the Section 189A consultations, the union disputed AMSA’s arguments. During the engagement which began in August the union was not convinced that job cuts were the only option. Further, the union said AMSA did not fully disclose the information that could assist with saving jobs and finding alternative work for the affected workers. Section 189A of the Labour Relations Act requires the employer to give reasons for dismissals based on operational requirements that are based on the “economic, technological, structural or similar needs of the employer.”
 
As a result of its reservations, NUMSA said it is worried about future job prospects for the retrenched workers especially under the current harsh economic conditions of high unemployment whose expanded rate, which includes discouraged job seekers is 41,9 per cent.

Additionally, the economy is stagnant with an estimated growth rate of 1.1 per cent and is characterised by poverty, inequality and a decline in manufacturing according to the African Development Bank.
 
NUMSA also says it is concerned that 200 workers will lose their benefits when transferred to other departments through low wages and the outsourcing of some of the workers core functions during the ongoing reorganization of the Flat Steel Plant. The union says AMSA did not consult NUMSA and was not transparent.
 
Paule France Ndessomin, IndustriALL regional secretary for Sub-Saharan Africa said:

“AMSA must consider retrenchments as a last resort and further engage in dialogue with NUMSA to explore job preservation and further protect workers interests.”

Why human rights due diligence is crucial for African industrialization

The conference was held one month ahead of Africa Industrialization Day, 20 November Africa. Industrialization Week will take place from November 25 to 29 in Kampala, Uganda, themed: Leveraging Artificial Intelligence and Green Industrialization to Accelerate Africa’s Structural Transformation.
 
Organized by IndustriALL Sub-Saharan Africa region with support from United Federation of Danish Trade Union 3F, 72 participants from 18 African countries participated and 22 from Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, and other African countries joined online. These included participants from ILO Addis Ababa and FNV. 

Topics included whether Africa’s developmental agenda is being hampered by a resource curse, and how this curse can be cured. According to United Nations (UN) agencies and experts, Africa’s vast mineral resources fail to develop the continent due to illicit financial flows, conflict minerals, corruption, unfair trade agreements and anti-poor economic policies. Instead, poor working conditions, high unemployment, child labour, environmental degradation, poverty, and inequality continued to prevail. 

Also on the agenda: challenges facing trade unions in the changing world of work, including the rise of digital technologies and automation, limited access to reliable internet and the shift from permanent jobs to precarious working conditions. 

Speakers emphasized the need to enforce compliance with national labour laws, for multinational corporations sustain international standards for human rights due diligence in their operations, and the potential for the Ethiopian model of industrial parks to stimulate economic development on the continent. 

Unions were urged to organize actions for African Industrialization Day and human rights due diligence domestically. There was emphasis that debates were shifting towards binding due diligence laws to ensure multinational corporations’ and local enterprises’ compliance. Participants identified promoting gender-transformative due diligence and ensuring a just transition to renewable energy sources as crucial. 

The presenters were drawn from the Confederation of Ethiopian Trade Unions, ITUC-Africa, UNDP Africa, UNECA, FES African Union office, FES Ethiopia, and labour support organizations that included the Sam Tambani Research Institute (SATRI) and the Labour and Economic Research Institute of Zimbabwe (LEDRIZ). Affiliates from Europe, IGBCE and ACV-CSC also participated.
 
Hod Anyingba, executive director, Africa Labour Research and Education Institute, ITUC-Africa, emphasized that industrialization created jobs, beneficiated raw materials, and increased the resilience of African economies. Other factors that needed attention were the promotion of regional economic integration, boosting human capacity, infrastructural and institutional development, and better trade facilitation.

However, to protect the economies from volatile markets, local content laws can require extractive industries to invest in domestic manufacturing and value-added processes. He cited Nigeria’s content laws in oil and gas sector which created tens of thousands of jobs.

Discussions that followed the conference resolved to develop an African trade union policy perspective on critical transition minerals, and advocate for policies that promoted local beneficiation of critical minerals.

Brendah Phiri-Mundia from regional integration and trade division at the UN Economic Commission for Africa emphasized on the potential of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in promoting regional integration and intra-African trade. Unions’ demands for double transformation in the rules of origin in the textile and garment sector were also discussed. 

Victoria de Mello from regional service centre for Africa, UNDP, explained why it is important for trade unions to use strategies and tools that include the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights and other AU instruments.

National action plans (NAPs) on business and human rights were identified as important entry points for union engagement with governments, national human rights institutes, and other stakeholders at national level. 

Germany’s due diligence legislation and implications for Sub-Saharan Africa were also on the agenda. Susanne Stollreiter, FES Ethiopia representative, said the law had potential to strengthen human and workers’ rights in Africa.
 
Joel Akhator Odigie, ITUC-Africa general secretary said: 

“Trade unions must take a developmental approach when engaging on industrialization and support energy justice especially the full utilization of solar energy.”

 Kemal Özkan, IndustriALL assistant general secretary said: 

“Inclusiveness in global governance and democratic multilateralism is important for holding multinational corporations accountable for their operations and supply chains in Africa. Further, at regional level, trade unions should engage with the African Union, African Development Bank, and the AfCFTA.”
 

Ethiopia’s Bole Lemi industrial park sets up workplace daycare centres

There are over 25 000 workers employed at Bole Lemi mainly in the textile and garment industries of whom 85 per cent are women. The two daycare facilities that IndustriALL Global Union visited on 28 October cater for up to 100 infants starting from one-year old and will accommodate toddlers of up to four years old in the future.
 
According to the Ethopian Industrial Park Development Corporation (IPDC,) factory owners found out that most workers did not return to work after maternity leave as they had no one to look after their babies if they resumed work. To address the workers plight, the IPDC, in consultation with trade unions, set up a daycare centre as a model that factories could replicate in their factory premises in the industrial park.
 
The daycare centre has child-friendly facilities for playing, sleeping, and bathing, and mothers leave their children in the morning when they start work, and pick them up at the end of their shifts in the afternoon. The centres also provides nutritional education to mothers as well as early childhood education.
 
The first of the 14 factories to heed the call to set up a daycare centre is garment manufacture, Shints, which employs about 6,500 workers. About 2,000 workers including the mothers of the children at the Shints daycare centre live off the park. While 4,500 workers are housed in dormitories. Shints said it provided meals to the residential workers whilst those who lived outside were given transport allowances. However, the dormitories have no facilities for children or families.
 
The Industrial Federation of Textile Leather and Garment Workers Trade Union (IFTLGWTU), affiliated to IndustriALL, says the wages of 4,700 Ethiopian Birr (ETB) or US$39 paid to the workers in the park are not enough for mothers to hire caregivers for their children when they go work. Neither are the wages enough to pay for other expenses that include accommodation and food. Currently, Ethiopia has no minimum wages and experts estimate that a living wage for Addis Ababa is at least ETB 36,422 or US$300.
 

“Most young mothers were resigning from work to look after their infants and we realized that daycare centres, where the women can leave their children and go to work, would help workers,” 

said Engidu Tsegaye, investor support and follow up service head at Bole Lemi Industrial Park. 
 

“Our basic union’s executive members are participating in the running of the daycare centres, and this is an initiative that is supported by our federation because it benefits workers,”

added Angesom Gebreyohannes, IFTLGWTU president. 
 
Paule France Ndessomin, IndustriALL regional secretary for Sub-Saharan Africa said: 
 

“Introduction of daycare centres at Bole Lemi is a crucial step to promoting women’s labour force participation in the textile and garment sector in Ethiopia.”

 
Industrial parks are special economic zones or industrial clusters owned by state-owned enterprise, the Ethiopian IPDC. The industrial parks were established to promote government policies on export growth, employment creation, technology transfer, and economic development through private sector investment in manufacturing industries.

Trade unions want a developmental approach to business and human rights in Africa

The forum which had over 500 participants from communities, civil society organizations, governments, employer organizations, human rights organizations, trade union organizations and others was held under the theme: “Promoting responsible business conduct in a rapidly changing context.”

Discussions that took place included on Africa’s potential for economic growth based on beneficiation of critical mineral resources and the benefits from the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Other benefits could also be derived from the transition from informal to formal economies. There was emphasis that this development should be sustainable and attained under conditions of responsible business conduct and the protection of the environment. For example, companies that included automotive manufacturer Isuzu East Africa said it supported contracts with suppliers from the informal economy and small to medium scale enterprises thus contributing to growth of the enterprises.

Vacus Kun, United Workers Union of Liberia’s director of education and training, who participated in the national action plan (NAP) processes on business and human rights in Liberia and was on a panel with other trade unionists and global union federation, BWI Africa, said union involvement ensured the inclusion of labour clauses.

“After initially being excluded in the NAP development process, we fought hard for the inclusion of labour issues in the plan when we were invited. We also reached common positions with civil society organizations on climate justice issues.”

UWUL is affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union, and the panel discussions were supported by the FES-AU office.

The NAP has provisions to protect workers against discrimination, casualization, child labour, and included union demands for implementable business and human rights reporting mechanisms and access to remedy using existing laws. Other countries that have developed NAPs are Kenya, Uganda, and Liberia. According to the UNDP, there is progress towards NAPS in Senegal, Ghana, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and other countries. The African Union has also developed a draft business and human rights policy which will be adopted by heads of state and government.

Alex Nkosi, ITUC-Africa coordinator of human and trade union rights, who participated online, said due diligence is important:

“Trade unions are defenders of workers’ rights and are collaborating using on diligence frameworks to defend freedom of association, collective bargaining, and the right to strike.”

Paule France Ndessomin, IndustriALL regional secretary for Sub Saharan Africa said:

“Insisting on responsible business practice allow unions to engage with multinational corporations along the supply chains. This is important as unions seek to engage mining and manufacturing MNCs, ask states to protect workers, as well as enforce remedies against offending employers.”

The forum was organized by the African Commission for Human and Peoples Rights, the UN Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Business and Human Rights Africa, UNICEF, the Working Group on Business and Human Rights, and the UNDP with support from various local, continental, and international organizations.
 

African organizing and collective bargaining forum launched in Rwanda

The forum brought together over 80 trade unionists from 28 African countries – over 50 per cent of the African Union’s 55 member states – with some participants coming from Belgium, Turkey, and Ireland. Participants included affiliates of the conference organizers, ITUC-Africa, ITUC, regional trade union organizations, and global trade union federations BWI Africa and Middle East, UNI Africa, and IndustriALL Sub Saharan Africa. The forum was hosted by the Central des Syndicats des Travailleurs du Rwanda (CESTRAR) – Rwanda’s workers trade union confederation.

The forum’s theme, organizing and collective bargaining: collaborating to improve defence and protection of workers' rights and trade union regeneration found resonance with the discussions. The issues discussed included on the critical need to strengthen union power and the unity of African workers through organizing and collective bargaining. Further, unions could also build power through cooperating with civil society organizations.

The forum comes as a result of the global union federations engagement on working closely to address workers’ issues on the continent.

The forum highlighted several barriers facing African trade unions which weakened their bargaining power and how these could be overcome. The barriers included low union density and fragmentation in most sectors. There was also competition among unions as different unions organized the same workers. It was recommended that unions should instead focus on unorganized workers. There were also weak strategies to engage the informal economy where most workers on the continent earned a living.

On precarious work, it was discussed that the rise of informal and platform work, characterized by short-term contracts, casualization, low wages, and lack of social protection eroded job security.

The forum expressed concern over the underrepresentation of youth and women in union activities, despite them making up a significant portion of the workforce. Although there is a bulging youth population in Africa, with over 60-70 per cent under the age of 35, it was mentioned that unions seemed not to have appropriate strategies to organize the young workers.

The use of the judicial systems to oppress workers through union bashing and busting, which is common in countries like Madagascar, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe, was identified as a threat to union organizing as it limited collective action especially the right to strike and picketing. It was mentioned that some African governments were reluctant to ratify and implement international labour conventions.

Akhator Joel Odigie ITUC-Africa general secretary said:

“Decolonization remains an unfinished project, with political, economic, and environmental systems failing to meet the aspirations of African workers. This means that a strategy to build a strong trade union movement through technology is needed.”

“Amidst unprecedented challenges such as senseless wars, attacks on living standards, and job insecurity unions must unite and also use social media as an organizing tool,”

emphasized Keith Jacobs, UNI Africa regional secretary.
 
Rose Omamo, ITUC-Africa deputy president and IndustriALL vice president added:

“Innovative organizing strategies that emphasize the need for unions to adopt new methods, such as organizing along supply chains and negotiating for workers in the platform economy are key. Further, unions must develop internal democratic governance while prioritizing on inclusivity, particularly for women, youth, and migrant workers.”

The forum pledged to focus on workers education, skills training on collective bargaining and negotiations, promote workers unity, and develop strategies to organize informal and platform workers. Strategies will also be developed for young workers and women as part of the forum’s action plan.

Organizing under tough economic conditions in Zimbabwe’s garment industry

According to reports unemployment is close to 90 per cent as the economy is largely informal and recovery is slow as industrial manufacturing activities remain stagnant. However, even under the difficult economic environment in which retrenchments have depleted union membership, trade unions remain resilient.

The National Union of the Clothing Industry (NUCI), which is affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union, said what is contributing to its retention of members is an organizing strategy anchored on better industrial relations and collective bargaining. However, the union is still pushing for living wages and better working conditions. Currently the workers are paid wages that are agreed upon by unions and the National Employment Council for the Clothing Industry in the sectoral collective bargaining agreement. The minimum wage for garment workers is US$180 and the union is campaigning for living wages of over US$250.

One of the factories covered by the collective agreement is school uniform manufacturer, Enbee, where NUCI has over 100 members. Some union members at Enbee told IndustriALL during a factory visit in Harare on 27 September that they have worked at the company for over 40 years during which time they contributed to the success of the uniform brand. Further, the workers said they also remained committed members of their trade union.

The union said the generational mix in the factory allowed for the sharing of skills between the youth and senior workers some of whom are now supervisors. Amongst the supervisors are women who are employed in different capacities. Some youth from NUCI have also actively participated in trade union organizing activities that have been facilitated by the IndustriALL regional office for Sub Saharan Africa.

On Zimbabwe’s economic crisis, NUCI said most of the country’s large textile and garment factories closed due to hyperinflation, a currency crisis, unreliable electricity, and water shortages. Further, the influx of imported garments and textile imports which are about 95 per cent, and used clothes made locally produced garments uncompetitive and expensive. For instance, a locally made formal shirt from the factory costs as much as US$15 while a preowned shirt donated from Europe costs only US$2. Additionally, high production costs, and an exodus of skilled workers to neighbouring countries also affected the textile and garment industries.

The once vibrant locally grown cotton to clothes value chain has also declined. However, the cotton that is still grown is exported instead of being used locally. Government information confirms that small-scale farmers prefer the export market for their cotton because of better prices.

However, despite the dire economic situation, there are glimmers of hope for the industry, says Joseph Tanyanyiwa, the National Union of the Clothing Industry, general secretary.

“The union continues to provide services to its members even under the unfavourable economic environment. At policy level, we continue to engage the government and municipalities on the revival of the textile and garment industry through local procurement and sourcing policies that create local jobs. We are optimistic that with appropriate policy interventions the garment industries will be revived.”

“We commend the resilience of trade unions in Zimbabwe’s textile and garment industry who are organizing under tough conditions amid a cost-of-living and economic crises. This underscores the importance of union commitment to always servicing members,”

says Paule France Ndessomin, IndustriALL regional secretary for Sub Saharan Africa.

Other Zimbabwean IndustriALL affiliates that organize in the textile, garment, shoe, and leather sectors are the Zimbabwe Textile Workers Union and the Zimbabwe Leather, Shoe, and Allied Workers Union.
 

Ghanaian government cancels mining licence for Bogoso-Prestea Mine after union petition

One of the reasons for the cancellation is failure to pay wages and benefits on time. Workers only received wages for December 2023 and January 2024 and have not been paid since. Their pensions and other benefits are also in arrears. 
 
UK registered Future Global Resources (FGR) acquired the mine in 2020 on condition that the mining company would invest into the mine. However, FGR, which holds 90 percent of the mine, failed to invest and develop the mine and instead became indebted to its suppliers. The government of Ghana owns the remaining 10 percent.
 
For many years, the community of Prestea has expressed concerns over pollution of water sources by gold mining companies including FGR. Community fears have been worsened by the flooding of the Central shaft, and the Bondaye shaft had only one working pump while some open pits were taken over by artisanal and small-scale miners.

Further, some sections of the tailing storage facility have been neglected, and the processing plant is in a state of disrepair, according to the government notice of termination. The union says this points to FGR’s failure on its environmental, social and governance (ESG) responsibilities.
 
“FGR lacks the financial capacity to inject the needed capital into the Bogoso-Prestea Mine and indeed has demonstrated its inability to show cause to the minerals commission during the 120 days’ notice period why the mining lease should not be terminated,” wrote the union in a petition to the Ghanaian Parliament.
 
Heeding the union and other stakeholders’ petitions and demonstrations, the ministry of lands and natural resources terminated the mining licence on 18 September.
 
“The decision to terminate the mining licence was taken after reviewing various reports from a minerals commission as well as a ministerial committee constituted to review the operations of the company, and after extensive engagement with all stakeholders involved in this matter,” wrote the ministry in a statement. The ministry stated that it was looking for other investors to take over the mine and has since appointed a caretaker team to oversee operations.
 
The GMWU, an IndustriALL affiliate, is in favour of the resumption of production at the mine which will benefit workers.

“A union meeting resolved to embark on a series of demonstrations, picketing, and protest marches if the minister refused to terminate the mining lease and allow other prospective investors to take over the mine and run it for the greater good of all stakeholders,” 

 said Abdul-Moomin Gbana, GMWU, general secretary.

Paule France Ndessomin, IndustriALL Sub-Saharan Africa regional secretary said: 
 

“FGR must pay outstanding wages and benefits, and the caretaker team must ensure that jobs are protected. Further, the government must enforce compliance with environmental laws to ensure the protection of community water sources against pollution.”