TFM covered with praise at the Alternative Mining Indaba workshop in Lubumbashi (press release)
“Congratulations to TFM for the program it is implementing. Its specifications touch on all the basic sectors of community life”. These are the words of the Minister of Mines of the province of Maniema, made at the end of the presentation that Tenke Fungurume Mining made of its environmental program and its specifications at the annual Alternative Mining Indaba conference.
This year, Alternative Mining Indaba was organized from October 12 to 13 in Lubumbashi by SARW, an observatory of natural resources and community rights, under the evocative theme: “Management of the environmental impacts of mining in the context of fight against climate change” . The company took part alongside other miners in the country, including Sakima, operating in the east of the country, and Rwashi Mining, based in Lubumbashi.
The conference had a varied audience, including governmental and customary authorities of the province of Haut-Katanga as well as the country, civil society organizations and the press.
It is in this setting that TFM presented its experience in environmental management. “We are the leader in environmental protection in the DRC. As a result of our exceptional performance in environmental management, we are ISO 14001 certified,” remarked, from the outset, engineer Freddie Mukalay, director of TFM’s environmental management department. Freddie Mukalay did not fail to recall that TFM is the initiator of the copper flora conference in 2018. This aimed to popularize good practices for mining operators operating in the Copperbelt. protection of this endemic flora.
To better structure its environmental management action, he added, TFM has set up an ambitious environmental program consisting of a system that monitors all the environmental aspects related to its operations, with the advantage of guaranteeing compliance with legal requirements, the anticipation of risks and the possibility of identifying opportunities for continuous improvement. The three pillars of this system are biodiversity, mitigation, and monitoring.
Moreover, he revealed that TFM is already doing gradual rehabilitation, which is to say as the operation evolves. The company is not waiting for the closure of the mine to initiate this process.
The workshop was also an opportunity for TFM to present its specifications. “TFM and the community of its concession have established a specification of a height of 31.190 million USD, to date, the largest in the republic”, indicated Professor Edouard Swana, Director of Community Development. These specifications cover all the key areas of the life of the communities of the concession, specified the professor. It includes the sectors of health, education, agriculture, infrastructure, etc. “By this, concludes the professor, you understand that at home we have, not a department of social, but rather of community development, which pursues the development of communities, therefore a character of sustainability. »
The Minister of Mines of Maniema Province has been prolific in his praise of TFM. He pointed out that if the company managed to “achieve even 50% of its specifications, the region would change dramatically”. He also expressed the wish to see TFM share its rich experience with other companies.
At the end of the work, several recommendations were formulated regarding the private, public and government sectors, most of them calling for coordinated actions to fight against climate change, regulate energy transition, reduce carbon intensity, all observing human rights. They also include updating the social and environmental studies code and the environmental and social management plan by integrating these aspects.
The closing of the work of the conference was marked by the address of the governor, represented, calling on all parties to campaign for a favorable business climate, a guarantee of investment. At the same time, he called for responsible and sustainable exploitation, which considers environmental requirements and social realities.
