Kingho Mining Company Limited has during the public disclosure of an addendum to its current Environmental and Social, Health Impact Assessment (ESHIA) for the construction of a Tailings Beneficiation Plant at the Tonkolili Iron Ore Mines, got an absolute approval from stakeholders of the mining concessions chiefdoms of Sambaia, Simiria and Dansogoia.
The meeting which took place on Saturday 30th April 2022, at the court barry in Bumbuna Town, chiefdom headquarter of Dansogoia saw representatives from the various mining communities together with officials from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Kingho Mining Company and GeoMining Consultancy dilate properly on the fruitful implementation of the Tailings Beneficiation Plant project.
Speaking on the need for the addendum meeting, Sheku Kanneh, Director of EPA said that already Kingho Mining Company has an existing ESHIA. He said, as part of their regulatory framework, they have it clear that any mining company that wants to bring in new developments into its operational site, must do an environmental impact assessment which they at EPA will look into and advise accordingly. Consequently, he said that the gathering is for Kingho Mining Company (through its consultant GeoMining) to publicly disclose the new development it wants to undertake in its operational site.
On his side, PC Alimamy Bockarie Yallan Koroma of Dansogoia Chiefdom on behalf of the mining communities said they are happy about the implementation of the Tailings Beneficiation Plant project. He expressed optimism that the plant project will create more job opportunities for people in the operational communities. He added that the installation of the Tailings Beneficiation Plant is a sign that Kingho Mining Company is indeed in their communities to stay, furthering that such a project will bolster their confidence in the company that in the short run smelting plant will be installed in the Tonkolili Iron Ore mining site.
On behalf of Kingho Mining Company, Engineer Samuel Kamara, who is the Mines Compliance Manager of Leone Rock Metal Group, the parent company of Kingho Mining Company, said that the company values its operational communities and the environmental impact of its activities in those chiefdoms. He spoke about the vision of the company in trying to optimize the iron ore grade currently mined at the Tonkolili Iron Ore site to a globally competitive grade. He allayed the fears of the community that the Tailings Beneficiation Plant project will not require the use of any chemical that may cause health hazard to the community. He assured that the company is a compliant company which upholds the laws of Sierra Leone.
Fuad Yusif Bangura of Geomining Consultancy did a PowerPoint presentation to the community on the entire Tailings Beneficiation Plant project. In his description, he said that the Iron Ore beneficiation plant in Tonkolili is expected to start operation immediately after the approval by EPA. He said that the “main objective of this process is to beneficiate the metal assay of run of mines Iron Ore grade to commercial-grade through elimination of gangue minerals,” adding that, “the present processing plant typically works with primitive technology of simple crushing and screening/sizing and has limitations in terms of beneficiation and efficiency.”
As a result, Fuad added that with the introduction of the new technological processes, the current tailings discharge can be used immediately to recover additional iron ore. “This means overall recovery of the company’s wash plant may improve up to 60% to 70% iron ore recovery. The tests results having been found to be encouraging, the decided to invest and implement the project,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, after the presentation, comments and questions were asked by community stakeholders which were swiftly answered by officials from EPA, GeoMining Consultancy and Kingho Mining Company. The programme ended with the communities overwhelmingly approving the installation of the Tailings Beneficiation Plant at the New Tonkolili Iron Ore Mines.
Note:
Kingho Mining Company Limited is a subsidiary of Leone Rock Metal Group. Kingho Mining Company Limited operates the Tonkolili Iron Ore Mines in Sambaia, Dansogoia and Simiria chiefdoms, Tonkolili District, Northern Province of Sierra Leone.
