The government of Mozambique has decided to suspend the mining operations of Chinese mining company Haiyu, following an expose by the human rights group, Amnesty International.
Haiyu is accused of putting an entire village in Nampula province at risk of being washed into the Indian Ocean.
The Rights Group has since welcomed the government’s decision to suspend the Chinese company mining activities, pending an environmental impact study.
In March, Amnesty released a report titled “Our lives Mean Nothing”, detailing the human cost of the company’s irresponsible mining practices and its breach of national law and international standards.
The report indicates that Haiyu had put an entire village in Nampula province at risk of being washed into the Ocean by mining of sand dunes for various minerals altered the landscape so severely that this likely caused the flash floods in 2015 which destroyed almost 50 homes.
Haiyu has been extracting minerals such as ilmenite, titanium, and zircon from heavy sands at two concessions in Nampula province – Nagonha and Sangage – since 2011.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) had previously disputed the claim that a Chinese mining company operating in Mozambique has violated environmental laws and put the lives of villagers at risk.
