In a joint statement,Jinapor,Minerals Commission chief executive Martin Ayisi and James Arkoudis,the chief executive of Australian miner Cassius said they had a productive meeting on the sidelines of the Africa Down Under Conference in Perth on Friday following “reports about the operations of Cassius mining limited and the alleged trespass on their concession by Shaanxi Mining Limited”.
“The purpose of the meeting was to engage officials on the matters contained in the widely circulated media reports on a without prejudice basis,” the statement said.
“The minister is scheduled to engage officials of Shaanxi and other related parties in the coming days on this matter.”
Minerals Commission officials were seen arriving at the Shaanxi site on Friday morning. The company rebranded as Earl International followingthe deaths of 16 local miners from poisonous gasses in one incident in January 2019. It was granted a mining licence for an area 50 times its original size last year.
Human rights campaigner and Third World Network-Africa coordinator Yao Graham said the situation had been fuelled by corruption and a “complete disregard of constitutional guarantees”.