Mining company Mutamba Mineral Sands, owned by global mining giant Rio Tinto, is preparing the resettlement plan for the feasibility of the heavy sands exploration project in Jangamo district, Inhambane province, southern Mozambique.

Mutamba plans to mine ilmenite, rutile and zircon. And while its Mining License (9228C) consists of over 24841 hectares, the first phase of the project only covers exploration in an area of 261 hectares in the Nahlicocuane community, according to a document seen by Zitamar News, and drawn up by Eco Mais Consultoria e Serviços, a company hired to conduct the resettlement process.

54 houses will be affected, as well as 17 commercial establishments and 173 cultivation fields, known as ‘machambas’, according to the preliminary census results and a patrimonial inventory carried out during the first public consultation meeting last December.

A second meeting was due to be held on 23 February 2023 in Inhambane for the presentation of preliminary data on the resettlement plan, according to an invitation seen by Zitamar. Two more meetings are to be held in the future. This will bring the total to four, as required by a decree-law.

Agriculture is key to the lives and incomes of households in the vicinity of the project implementation area. According to the Eco Mais document, those affected have proposed that Mutanda acquire land they could farm in a similar area and guarantee the issue of land use rights certificates, known as DUATs.

The infrastructure of the affected people should be restored in the resettlement area while trees and crops will be compensated monetarily, the document also said.

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