Audit: Three mine lessees owe US$13.7 million in penalties for unrehabilitated land

Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis has disclosed that three mine lessees owed penalties to the Mines and Geology Department (MGD), totalling US$13.7 million, for failing to rehabilitate 264.14 hectares of mined-out land.

For years some members of parliament in constituencies where significant mining takes place have complained bitterly that large areas which have been mined-out remain in that state for extended periods without rehabilitation by the companies responsible for the mining.

In a performance audit tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, the auditor general said of the 264.14 hectares of mined-out land, one lessee accounted for 169.68 hectares or 64 per cent of the area not yet rehabilitated and US$9.89 million or 72 per cent of the total monetary exposure.

According to the auditor general, the weaknesses in enforcement were linked to the absence of a single auditable rehabilitation register, non-use of the security deposit mechanism during the review period, and the absence of finalised rehabilitation guidelines for quarries.

Monroe Ellis said the MGD could not demonstrate that all lease renewals were supported by the required information. This, she said, reduced assurance that operators had the financial capacity to meet their obligations and that Government had adequate protection, through the security deposit, against future rehabilitation or restoration costs.

The auditor general reported that the long-outstanding rehabilitation obligations remained unresolved, and MGD could not demonstrate that the polluter-pays principle set out in the mining regulations was being effectively enforced.

- Edmond Campbell

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