By ‘Majirata Latela
An open cast new diamond mine company Motete Diamond Mine (Pty) Ltd wholly owned by Basotho is soon to begin operations in Motete in Botha-Bothe district.
The company has already been awarded a 10-year mining lease and is now involved in setting up plant machinery for construction of infrastructure in the area.
Currently the company has secured an investor with paper work already nearing completion with the funder.
According to the chief executive officer of Motete Diamond Mine (Pty) Ltd, Lenepa Ratalane the mine is currently setting up offices and setting up machinery as a signing of contracts with the investor on course.
The lease was issued to the company after it applied for it in 2019. This followed a liquidation of another company in 2016 paving way for seeking of tenders for the Motete mining.
Ratalane observed that mining industry in Lesotho faced some challenges that directly affect the communities adjacent to the mine precinct.
But he vowed his company will work hard to curb address such challenges in collaboration with the affected communities.
This was reminiscent to a glaring complaint by the Kolo community who harshly criticised the Kolo Mine for failing to address a string of grievances.
They claimed that Reskol Mine reneged from fulfilling their expectations and its promises. They vowed not to allow any further operations at the mine situated at Ha Petlane in Mafeteng district.
The irate community members accused the mine of failing to fulfil its promises to implement infrastructure developments such as road construction and relocation of some houses damaged by blasting activities.
During a visit to the village, where the mine is located, the Ha Petlane area chief, ‘Materai Petlane, said the community chose a liaison committee that tabled development demands to the mining ministry and the company when the operations began.
According to her, the demands included construction of tarred road and supply of electricity in and the relocation of some houses which were affected by the blasting. She said the houses had cracked while blasting was being carried out.
She lamented that the seven houses have neither been repaired nor relocated for a period spanning 10 years.
“We do not want this company anymore. It makes promises which it never fulfils. The committee that presented our concerns to the company was very optimistic that our community was going to be developed as the company had promised. But until now we have not seen even a single development.
“We do not even have a road that leads to the village. During rainy days the vehicles cannot reach the village and that forces the villagers to walk home for about two km from the main road.
“The mine has not been operating for many years now and we are not going to allow them to start operating before addressing our concerns. We plead with the ministry to also play its part. It should not allow the company to continue operating without giving us what we want,” chief Petlane said
But for Motete Mine, Ratalane is confident challenges of similar nature will be overcome saying the company has already involved the affected communities.
According to him the residents in the area have identified the key priority needs being road infrastructure.
He said the company in collaboration with the residents will set up a committee to be constituted with local leaders.
The grouping is to liaise with the company to address development issues while enabling smooth communication.
“In curbing unemployment rate in the villages surrounding the mine, we will ensure that at least 80 percent of our unskilled and skilled labour comes from the nearby villages. We are going to make sure that of the five people that we will need from a certain field of work, three of them who will be given the jobs will be from the communities. This will be to make sure that the community enjoys the minerals from their land.
“Also, there is going to be skills transfer to unskilled community members in that skilled workers from outside the communities will teach some unskilled labourers from the community how to operate the machinery. We also have a plan on the table to improve agriculture in the communities by supporting them with seedlings and knowledge from agricultural experts.
“Before the end of October, our machines will be seen on the road making sure that the road is accessible by both the community and the workers in the mine. Thereafter some of the community projects will follow,” he said.
He also added that the company will be using new technology to address some of the challenges in the mining industry. For instance, when conducting a research, the company realised that during extraction in some mines, diamonds get cut mistakenly in the process. He therefore said the company is going to use new technology to address such challenges.
Ratalane further pointed out that to make sure that the ownership of the mine remains in the hands of Basotho, even when selling shares they will ensure that Basotho remain majority shareholders.
