African Minerals - Re: AMI Stream Log - n the town of Bumbuna,...

n the town of Bumbuna, where mining expeditions discovered an immense amount of iron ore, the quality of life has steadily decreased. African Minerals Limited (AML) is a London-based company that settled in the Bambuna area in 2006. Although this area was already inhabited by villagers, this mattered little to the mining company, who promptly went about removing them. Villagers were promised new homes, with water pipes, plenty of food and access to education. Instead, villages have been placed on arid lands with little access to water, sustenance or education for their children. On their old land, food and water were plentiful, “Before, we ate three or more meals per day. Now it’s one,” said a village elder. “We have to buy things now that we used to get for free.” The displaced people only added to the overall feelings of discontent. The workers in the mines, 80 percent of whom are from Sierra Leone, found themselves increasingly at odds with AML. One worker described the situation in the mining canteens, “The chicken is … boiled and undercooked with the blood still visible. There are flies in the food. The expats and locals eat separately, and the locals are not permitted to eat in the expat dining room… There is only one meal…for the African workers, with no other opportunities to eat in a day that starts at 3 a.m. and doesn’t end until 9 p.m. sometimes.” Other instances include giving expat workers bottled water, while local workers have been forced to drink out of streams, which are laden with bacteria, including cholera. Read more: [link]