By Kebba Ansu Manneh
Kartong Town Hall Meeting has expressed concern over the mining of natural minerals, amid the issuance of a license to Gam Mining Company by the Department of Geology.
However, the people of Kartong over the weekend organised a town hall meeting where they raised concerns over threats to natural minerals endowed in the community.
According to them, the mining activity will pose threat to at least five natural minerals including Silica, Silicon Aluminite, Quartz, and Rutile. They noted that allowing the Gam Mining Trading Company to engage in mining activities around the community might tamper with the mineral deposits and this will adversely affect future generations of the community.
This development comes up at the heel of a stakeholder meeting held between the people of Kartong, the National Environmental Agency, and the Department of Geology recently, where the people of Kartong emphasized that mining activities will not be allowed in the community.
Momodou Lamin Touray, Secretary General of Kartong Village Development Committee (VDC) disclosed that representatives of Kartong were told by the Director General of NEA that his Agency is not responsible for the issuance of a license to mining companies but the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum do. He added that the geology representative at the meeting interjected and informed the meeting that Gam Mining came with its authentic documents to seek a license from his department.
He said Mr Senghore told the meeting held at the NEA office that the documents were first acquired through the consent of the land owners, adding that they were also informed that the documents were approved by Kartong Village Alkalo and the District Chief of Kombo South.
SG Touray further told the community that the Geology Representative at the meeting emphasized that all lands belong to the state, and Geology’s issuance of a license is based on the approval of the village of the Alkalo and the district chief.
Momodou Lamin Touray continued that during their meeting at the NEA, Amadou Charles Gibba who spoke on behalf of the community asked for the reason why the people of Kartong were not part of the decision-making process before the issuance of the license to Gam Mining Trading Company Limited, adding that Gibba also explained at the meeting that the people of Kartong are poor and have all rights to know what minerals are endowed in the soil.
Foday Bojang, a member of Kombo Yiriwa Kaafoo who attended the Kartong Town Hall meeting said the prime objective of his association is to work towards the development of the entire Kombo, adding that since the association comes across the development in Kartong it did not rest on its laurels but rather engages stakeholders to resolve the matter.
He advised the people of Kartong to prevent any mining activity in the community as the activities of mining companies have depleted the environment of Kombo, noting that mining companies never backfill mining sites they left behind which usually results in the loss of precious lands belonging to communities in Kombo.
When contacted to shed light on the Town Hall meeting organised on Saturday, SG Momodou Lamin Touray disclosed that the community has issued a resolution that was unanimously agreed to ban any mining activity in the community. And that both the village elders and youths including the Alkalo of the village have denied any knowledge of mining license approval given to Gam Mining Trading Company Limited.
