Mining & Trade News

ASX-listed Lindian Resources, which is pursuing the Kangankunde Rare Earth Prospecting Project in Balaka, says it is committed to address all the concerns raised by the local community on Kangankunde Project while continuing its corporate social investments in the district.

Lindian’s Kangankunde site manager Daniel Brits said the company is renovating Balaka District Council offices and has set aside funds to finance interventions in the education sector.

“We have budgeted about US$250,000 for the school project at Kangankhunde Primary School,” he said.

Meanwhile, upgrading of the access road to Kangankunde from M1 is about 90 percent complete and households situated close to the road were compensated and relocated. Lindian has also installed speed limit signs, with additional signage and speed humps planned in order to enhance safety.

In terms of dust pollution, a Balaka District Council monitoring report acknowledges that watering was initially inadequate, often limited to once a day or selected sections of the road. But the situation has since improved with Lindian now watering the whole road three times daily (morning, afternoon and evening) in order to avoid dust emissions.

The council report also indicates that Lindian has drilled new boreholes in surrounding households, easing pressure on existing water sources and improving access to clean water. It plans to plant trees along the road once the rainy season begins to reduce soil erosion and improve the general landscape around the mining site.

Despite these improvements, the report points out that the Community Grievance Redress Mechanism Committee is not functioning effectively as the committee needs re-orientation so that it can properly handle mining-related complaints and urges Lindian to strengthen collaboration with Area and Village Development Committees to ensure an inclusive and transparent process.

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