Dehai News

http://www.spreezeitung.de/24638/besuch-in-der-bisha-mine-in-eritrea/ 

Martin Zimmermann / February 6, 2017 

Visit to the Bisha Mine in Eritrea 

In the hunt for coveted raw materials, not only the environment is often destroyed, especially in developing countries. Human rights also remain on the line. Child labor in contaminated and unsafe pits is just as much a part of the forced expropriation of peasants who are expelled from their country. International investors, with cunning and trickery - and often also by means of corruption - find every gap in avoiding taxation in order to generate as much profit as possible outside the country. In Eritrea the clocks tick differently. A visit to the Bisha Mine, 150 kilometers west of the capital city of Asmara. A report by Martin Zimmermann. 

The journey takes about 5 hours from Asmara to Bisha in the western lowlands of Eritrea. Immediately after arrival, you will be sent to the security office. In the mine and on the processing plant apply for all strict safety rules: safety goggles, safety vests, sturdy shoes are just as a must as protective helmet and earplugs. We stay overnight. Our lodging, an air-conditioned room in an elongated structure, is located in the center of a small village within the vast expanse of the mine. Where there are also 843 employees who do not come from the surrounding villages and towns. And not far from the sports field, the cafeteria, the company's own clinic and the bar, where we were to rinse the dust of the day with a beer in the evening. 

"The business is doing well" 

After the rooms are occupied, the conversation with the mine management team is finished. Managing Director Edward Mounsey, Operations Manager Anthony Kocken and Chief Service Officer Fesseha Ghebrehiwet, describe the company: In 2008, the Eritrean state of the BMSC granted the license to 80,000 square kilometers of gold, copper and zinc. In 2011 the mine went into operation. "Highly profitable," as Mounsey says: 

"When we promoted gold, the price of gold was at the top when we promoted copper, the price of copper was high, now zinc is being promoted - the price on the world market is high, 
He says, smiling. A bit of luck in the business of course, too. At the moment, almost 10 tonnes a day are mined in the mine, the copper content is just under two percent, the zinc content is six to eight percent. The port town of Massawa supplies markets in Europe and Asia. For the future, the managing director does not see any black. 

"We have very good deposits of gold, copper and zinc in nearby places like Ashela and Harena, which are also part of our licensing area, which we can promote in the future."

Bisha currently employs 1230 people, 250 of which are women - from the laundry assistant to the driver of a heavy-duty truck in the open mine. 

"The business is going well, relations with the government are very good right from the beginning - we are a reliable taxpayer in this country. We adhere to Eritrean's national standards of environmental and working conditions - and meet the highest international standards, 

Emphasizes Mounsey. In concrete terms, this means that contaminated water from the production process is collected in a lake sealed with a thick plastic film. 

"We ensure that no waste water comes into the environment. Every six months this is checked. An independent institute collects soil and groundwater samples in the environment, 

Explained Kocken. 

A cook deserves more than a minister 

BMSC has a job to appreciate. Even the basic salaries are - depending on the qualification - far above the normal wages. A cleaning power is paid as a base wage 3000 Nakfa (200 dollars) per month, an electrician 7500 Nakfa, a Caterpillar driver in the mine 8000 Nakfa. With 4700 Nakfa, a chef earns more than a minister in the country. There are also paid leave for night shift and overtime crashes, depending on the number of employees, up to 30 days a year. Annually up to 15 000 Nakfa costs are taken for a possible medical treatment. For the 450 employees of the mine, which come from the surrounding towns and villages, there is a free bus transfer, free breakfast and lunch. Employees who live in the mine receive three free meals a day in the canteen. The standards in the Bisha mine are far above the respect of elementary workers' rights, which are laid down in the Eritrean "Labor Proclamation", in which the principle of equal pay for equal work is also anchored.

As a matter of course, BMSC also considers that the contact with the surrounding villages is cultivated and invested in the development of village structures and the environment, emphasizes Mounsey. 

"In 2015, that was over $ 300,000." 

In various villages fountains were drilled, the animals of the peasants can graze on the site of the mine, on which no degradation takes place, 2015 over 20,000 Neem trees were planted in the vicinity of the mine. This commitment to civil society is also exceptional for a mining company in a developing country. 

"No slaves work here!" 

And what about human rights? Against the company Nevsun is currently running in Canada a lawsuit by some Eritreern, which claim that they had to perform as part of their national service in Bisha "slavery". However, not as employees of the BMSC, but by subcontractors, where they performed their legally regulated national service. Also, in the report of a UN Human Rights Commission, which accuses the Eritrean state of massive human rights violations based on anonymized interrogations of Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia and Djibouti, Eritreans have been forced to "dig tunnels for gold mining" . Faced with such questions, there are clear announcements in the discussion: 

"This is absolutely not true. At Bisha, only workers who have completed their national service are employed, 

Emphasizes Mounsey. The UN Human Rights Commission had not contacted the company despite the invitation of Nevsun, we learn. 

"This is why Nevsun has been able to review the human rights situation in the mine by an independent commission of internationally recognized human rights experts, 
The managing director adds, summarizing the results: 

"No slaves work here!" 
And what does Ghebrehiwet think of such stories? He did not feel like laughing when he heard such stories, he says, 

"There is no tunnel here at all, this is a mine that works in opencast mining, you can see for yourself!"

In Bisha nobody has anything to hide anything 

"Welcome to the slaves of Bisha!" Bitter irony resonates in this sentence with which Milena Bereket, a young Eritreer, welcomes us early in the morning at the entrance gate of the mine. Not without reason: Bisha Mining Share Company (BMSC), a joint venture company owned by the Canadian company Nevsun Resources Ltd. 60 percent and the state-owned Eritrean mining company ENAMCO hold 40 percent of the shares, faces violent criticism. 

The company is accused of serious human rights violations in a UN report. Does the Bisha Company have something to hide? Well, the fact that we are allowed to visit as journalists within two days, surprised us - as in hindsight - the fact that during our stay in Bisha, outside the mine and the production facilities, we were completely free Move and talk with everyone. No restrictions were imposed on photography. In Bisha nobody has anything to hide anything. 

A large dusty hole in the countryside 

With Anthony Kocken we are on the way to the Tagebaumine - a large, almost 350 meters deep and about one kilometer long hole. There is no trace of goldgrassromantic. Also not from tunnels, in which underground is dismantled. High-tech is trump. Viewed from above, Caterpillar crawler excavators, excavators, drills, and trucks look like toy vehicles. 270 people work there. 

"In the mine the employees have a week day shift with 12 hours daily, then 24 hours break, then a week night shift, then a week free" 
Tells cocks. Security is also given here: 

"Because an open mine changes constantly, a security meeting takes place before the beginning of a shift." 

Trucks transport the copper- and zink-ore-containing earth to the processing plant: crumbling and crunching the rock is finely crushed and brought into flotation containers via a conveyor belt. We walk on well-secured bridges over the flotation vessels. Hot and stuffy is the air. Kocken explains what bubbles and foams among us in the kettles: 

"Here the ore is separated from the deaf rock at different stages of processing - step by step until the highest possible concentration is achieved."

BMSC relies on local workers and their qualification 

This process is monitored and controlled in the control center on PCs and screens. Striking for us: Eritreers like Yosief Semere sit in the control center of the plant and Eritreer also work in other areas in a responsible position. 

"Approximately 37 percent of the employees in leading positions are Eritreans," says Kocken. "We attach great importance to the training of our employees." 

Currently, 72 Eritreers were trained as mining engineers in Bisha. 

"The training lasts three years - and the pre-education of the young people who all come from May Nefhi College is outstanding, 

Says the Dutch mining expert. Two of them we meet in the mine's laboratory. They tell us how the zinc ore content in the stone is measured. 

"We are very glad that we have found well-paid work here and continue our training in practice, 

Say both. With the targeted training and support, BMSC creates the precondition in Eritrea that its own, qualified local workforce will be available to the mining industry in the future. This is an important step out of the dependency on foreign investors and experts, especially in the booming mining sector in Africa. 

A clinic and canteen like from the picture book 

After a short break, you will continue to the hospital, which is equipped with state-of-the-art equipment. A digital X-ray machine, an emergency room with a defibrillator and all necessary medical accessories, several sick rooms and a small dental clinic are accommodated there. The workers must undergo regular health checks. An ambulance is ready if an accident should happen. Only one patient can be seen sitting in the waiting room for routine examinations. "Fortunately," says Kocken. 

"We have very few accidents at work here." 

The clinic's statistics show that there has been no fatal accident at the Bisha Mine. On average, the average number of registered unemployed per employee in the past two years was just two days. 

"The main work here is routine examinations, health checks and in malaria treatment the treatment of malaria cases", 

Explains Sara Tekle, who works as a medical officer in the clinic. Meanwhile, it is late afternoon, we go to our accommodation, wash the dust off and join the workmen playing volleyball on a sports ground - Eritrean "work out" after a 12 hour shift. Then we treat ourselves to a dinner in the brightly clean canteen and end the day in the crowded bar with a beer and talks in a relaxed atmosphere end. Of the women and men who sit here after the end of the evening, we do not hear a negative word about their work and payment. On the contrary. Yohannes, a young man, tells us the story of Halima, a woman from Akordat. In Bisha 2011, she started as a cleaning power and earned a multiple of her original salary since she became a machine operator. 

"Everyone has a chance for the future," he says.

Mining as a driving force for economic development 

Back in the capital Asmara we meet Sebhat Ephrem, the Minister of Mining and Energy. Raw materials are the main source of income for the country, he explains. However, mining alone could not live in the long term: 

"With our resources, we need to be responsible in order to expand the infrastructure, the healthcare system and the education system" 

He explains the government's policy. Foreign investors, who want to exploit the land for a butterbrot, do not come here. 

"We are working to reduce raw materials in consortia with Canadian, Australian and Chinese companies with holdings of 40 to 50 percent - in addition, the state receives 10 percent on the taxation of profits. The prospects for the future are very good ", 

Says the minister. In Eritrea, the world's largest deposit of potash (potassium chloride) is the basis for the production of fertilizer for food production. World market leader in mining and production of potassium chloride is Canada. However, potassium chloride is very cost-intensive in underground construction. In Eritrea, potash can be produced at low cost in opencast mining. According to a feasibility study, Eritrea is the world's third largest producer of potassium chloride. Partners are already in the starting holes. Investors are welcome in Eritrea, but the government attaches importance to fair conditions, according to the minister. The Colluti project is a 50:50 joint venture between the state-owned Eritrean mining company ENAMCO and the Australian South Bolder Mines. "The dismantling," says Sebhat Ephrem, "is to begin 2019". 

At the airport in Asmara, we meet with Isaac Kefela, an internationally active auditor, before the return flight. When we talk about the visit to the Bisha mine, he tells what he knows from Tanzania. The state only had a 5 per cent stake in the mining companies. In addition, investors are granted tax exemption for seven years. 

"After seven years they simply change their name - and the company, which has only changed the name, gets a further seven years of tax freedom!", 
He describes an example from the trickbox of international investors. In the country, therefore, almost nothing remains of the raw material. 

"Bisha and the handling of Eritrea's raw materials is a very good example of how African countries can really benefit from mining and their mineral resources, 
Says the auditor. And: It is also an example that foreign investors can do good business in a fair partnership. 


http://www.spreezeitung.de/img/Bisha_Mine_5.jpg 

Bisha Mine in Eritrea 
----- 
Martin Zimmermann (journalist, born in 1955) is a profound expert on Eritrea. Since 1991 he is the chairman of the Eritrea Relief Society in Germany (EHD), founded in 1976 (www.eritrea-hilfswerk.de). He has been visiting the country regularly since 1984. In the book "Eritrea - Aufbruch zur Freiheit" (1st edition, 1990), he reports on the basis of several visits to the territories of the independence fighters over the period of the independence war. Since the independence of Eritrea (1991), Zimmermann has visited the country several times a year.

---Software translation--