Mining & Trade News

Hungry hyenas feasting on Kangankunde mine

I was one of the journalists invited to Kangankunde in Balaka to cover the launch of Project Early Learning which Lindian Resources is implementing to support Kangankunde Primary School.

Minister of Education Bright Msaka officially launched the project, through which Lindian is constructing new infrastructure at the school including school blocks and a netball court, and also giving learners learning materials such as books and pens.

I left my base in Lilongwe early in the morning on that day to arrive in time for the event that was scheduled to start at 9.00am at the primary school

I never went wrong regarding punctuality as I was assisted by the good access road from M1 to Kangankunde that Lindian has constructed to gravel standards to ease access to the mine.

When I arrived at the event, I was surprised to meet my Uncle, Mr Mathias Chimwala, in the company of a fellow old man. Mr Chimwala is the only one alive among my late father’s siblings and stays in our home village Chimtendere in Traditional Authority Nsamala’s area near khwisa Trading Centre in the northern side of Balaka, a bit far from Kangankunde. “Oh dad, what brings you here?” I reached out to him as traditionally we refer to a father’s brother as another Dad.

He explained that he had come from Khwisa to visit the old man in his company Mr Mwatitola, who is one of his brothers in-law and long-time friend.

“Several years have elapsed since I paid him a visit. He asked me to escort him to attend this event. I am just surprised that this area has changed now. Villages here used to be surrounded by thick bushes with Malawi’s renowned hungry hyenas of Ntcheu and Balaka on the prey feasting on people’s livestock.”

Before I could respond to ask Mr Mwatitola if they had managed to overcome the threat of the hungry hyenas, he chipped in: “There are now hungry hyenas feasting on Kangankunde Mineral Deposit Mr Chimwala. I will tell you about these hyenas.”

No community development agreement

He then started explaining about the project. Mr Mwatitola enlightened us that unlike other big mining projects in Malawi, there is no Mining Development Agreement (MDA) nor Community Development Agreement (CDA) on Kangankunde. This is because only companies that hold a large-scale mining licence are mandated to sign MDA with Government and CDA with the community. Strange enough, Lindian is still operating using a medium scale mining licence to run Kangankunde, one of the largest and most significant rare earth deposits in the world

“Why is the company not acquiring a large-scale mining licence then with such a huge and high value deposit understanding rare earths are one of the critical minerals in high demand on the world market?” I posed the question to Mr. Mwatitola.

He told us that Lindian wants to start with very low production that does not deserve a large-scale mining licence and scale up and obtain a large-scale mining licence later

I posed a question to him: “So if Lindian wants to make money out of Kangankunde to raise money to expand to large scale mining, what is failing the Malawi Government from revoking its licence to give it to a capable investor to develop large scale mining with all its benefits? Do you know that there are huge investors out there, some with the backing of rich governments such as USA, looking for rare earth deposits of that size and quality?”

Very cool and calm, Mr Mwatitola responded to me: “My son, this is the work of the hyenas I talked about. They are some hyenas in government feasting on Kangankunde based on such peculiar arrangements.”

“If Kangankunde was being managed in a sound way, we would certainly have had a large-scale mining company pursuing the deposit. This company would have signed MDA and CDA with us, according to the Mines and Minerals Act (2023). Through the CDA, we would be able to propose the development projects that we want here as natives of Kangankunde other than waiting for someone in luxury at Lindian’s head office in Perth, Australia to decide what to voluntarily do for the people of Kangankunde. We are certainly being taken for a ride by these hyenas.”

Processing of monazite to be conducted in Kazakhstan and Australia

I was mesmerized with the knowledge and reasoning of Mr Mwatitola on mining issues and I asked him how he manages to follow these issues

He told me that he follows the issue of Kangankunde mine from Traditional Leaders who are invited to Council meetings. Mr Mwatitola also reminded us about his experiences working in mines in “Salisbury” now Zimbabwe.

He continued his talk: “My son, it is clear that we, the people of Kangankunde, and the Malawi Nation will not adequately benefit from Kangankunde due to the work of these hyenas.

“Kangankunde is a lost opportunity for Malawi looking at the size and global significance of the deposit with Lindian having signed a binding agreement with an Australina firm Iluka Resources including an offtake loan to develop the mine and buying a refinery in Kazakhstan to process the monazite. It pained me as an old man to see pictures in online news articles of US and Australian officials and also US and Kazakhstan government officials holding hands celebrating bilateral coordination over rare earths including those of Kangankunde. Foreign nations are celebrating cooperation over rare earth from Kangankunde while I lack a kwacha to buy bonya (very small fish). Cry for my beloved Kangankunde! Cry for my beloved Malawi!”

It was becoming vivid that the old man was getting emotional when he later complained about lack of jobs for the youths in Balaka and Malawi as a nation while Kangankunde is exporting jobs through these arrangements of sending monazite concentrate to process in foreign countries.

The old man explained that through such arrangements. Malawi is also losing the chance to bring the rare earth processing technology home.

“I hear that in Salisbury, President Munangagwa banned exports of both processed and semi-processed critical minerals such as this concentrate. Chinese companies are, therefore, opening lithium processing plants there, employing more locals,” Mr Mwatitola gave an example of Zimbabwe.

I reminded him about the Executive Order issued by State President Arthur Peter Mutharika banning exportation of raw minerals asking why it is not working on Kangankunde

He responded to me by explaining that Lindian officials indicated that the ban excludes Kangankunde because it is only a ban on unprocessed minerals. Kangankunde will not export run of mine material. It will develop the material into concentrates.

Then my Uncle laughed and said: “You know, some of these announcements by politicians mainly serve political interests. You can see the ban boosted the popularity for the President but is mainly impacting poor artisanal and small-scale miners with investors avoiding it.”

Government officials pocketing allowances

As Mr Chimwala was talking, the Minister started the hand over of books to selected learners at the primary school as part of the ceremony.

This prompted me to speak in praise of the Lindian for the project but Mr Mwatitola responded; “My son, while this project is indeed important, we still want the mining project to upgrade to large-scale and sign a CDA and MDA. While the CDA will enable us to choose the projects that we want, the MDA will increase transparency in the project as it states what benefits are there for the Malawi Nation and the mining company.”

“This medium scale mining licence is keeping us in the dark on the benefits in so doing giving an opportunity to the hungry hyenas to continue feasting on our resource.”

As we continued discussing these issues on the sidelines of the event, we noticed queues of locals including women with babies strapped on their backs queueing to receive a packet each of biscuits and juice in 240ml bottles that Lindian bought as lunch for the locals.

At the same time, government officials were seen entering one of the modern classrooms constructed by Lindian to receive brown envelopes which we knew contained funds for transport expenses’ reimbursements and allowances.

Mr Mwatritola continued his talk: “Look here, these government officials are pocketing allowances while locals like me are supposed to scramble for small packets of biscuits and juice. These government officials and politicians are the hyenas I talked about feasting on Kangankunde on our watch.”

“Members of Parliament from the last cohort of the Parliamentary Committee on Natural Resources also came to tour Kangankunde and demanded hefty allowances from Lindian which were paid immediately.”

“Besides that, Lindian is one of the companies that has been sponsoring government officials to attend international mining conferences in different countries. These officials shamelessly ask for sponsorship from Lindian without any worry of compromising their roles. Do you think these officials can make any decision to Lindian’s disadvantage though for the good of the nation?”

“Hungry hyenas are feasting on Kangankunde while we, the locals here, and many Malawians continue to live in abject poverty.”

As Msaka bade farewell to the gathering at the event, I invited the two old men to join me in enjoying Kachaso, a locally brewed gin, in Kangankunde Village. It was not the talk of the Minister encouraging locals to support Lindian in developing Kangankunde Mining Project but the old man’s talk of hyenas feasting on Kangankunde that stuck in my mind

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