Allegations Mount Against FG Gold Mining Company
By Bobor Dan Kamara
FG Gold Mining, a prominent commercial gold mining company, is facing serious allegations of corruption and mistreatment of local miners in Baomahun Village and Valunia Chiefdom, Bo District.
Community members from Valunia and neighboring chiefdoms claim the company has failed to contribute to the Community Development Fund (CDF), which is designed to support local development projects. This alleged neglect has sparked growing concerns about the company’s commitment to the well-being of the communities in which it operates.
Reports suggest that modern-day slavery conditions prevail at the Baomahun Gold Project, where local workers are subjected to inhumane treatment, in direct violation of Part XIX, subsection 145 of the Mines and Mineral Development Act of 2022. Furthermore, local miners’ salaries reportedly fall below Sierra Leone’s minimum wage standards, exacerbating the workers’ hardships.
“Safety protocols are largely ignored, and many workers are forced to either purchase their own safety equipment or face dangerous conditions without protection,” said one local youth activist.
There are also claims that a private entity is operating under the guise of being a subsidiary of FG Gold Mining, focusing on the extraction of lithium and other minerals at the 124.27 km mining site. Meanwhile, community members continue to live in extreme poverty, as their resources are exported with little benefit to the locals.
Additionally, sources allege that most of FG’s foreign experts are working without the proper permits and are hostile towards the community. Questions are being raised about the effectiveness of oversight by the National Minerals Agency (NMA), as another mining company has been stuck in the prospecting phase for years, without meaningful progress.
The deteriorating road infrastructure around the mining site is another point of concern. The 64 km road from Matotoka through Yele to Mongeri, which was part of the Community Development Agreement between FG Gold Mining and the local people, remains in a poor state.
Agricultural activities have been severely affected as well, with promised incentives to local farmers still undelivered. Much of the cultivated land has been converted into mining sites, leaving farmers with little to no compensation.
Environmental degradation is also a pressing issue, with local streams and rivers reportedly contaminated, making them unsuitable for aquatic life.
Efforts by this publication to obtain a response from FG Gold Mining have been unsuccessful, and attempts to engage the Right to Access to Information Commission to compel the company to disclose information about its operations have been fruitless.
