Human Rights group to detail abuse at Eritrean mine

A human rights group will issue a report next week detailing workers' claims of abuse at a mine owned by Canadian gold miner Nevsun Resources Ltd in Eritrea.

Human Rights Watch researcher Chris Albin-Lackey

"The report we're releasing next week describes the allegations against Nevsun and its contractor in some detail," said Chris Albin-Lackey, a senior researcher with Human Rights Watch, on Friday. But on Friday, Nevsun chief executive Cliff Davis tried to dismiss concerns the company is not doing enough to keep its Eritrea-based Bisha mine free of conscripted workers.
“I’m very comfortable there are not any conscripted workers on site,” he said in an interview.
However, he could not say for certain that there was no forced labour at the project in 2009, when the concerns first surfaced. He acknowledged that the company should have taken more steps to make sure there wasn’t any, and expressed regret if there were conscripts.

The pending report prompted Nevsun to issue a statement expressing regret over allegations that a contractor had used forced labour during the construction of its Bisha gold project.
The Bisha mine is the only modern mining project in the nation and employs about 1,000 locals.
Shortly after construction started in 2008, claims surfaced that one of the company's contractors, Segen Construction, was using forced labourers from the country's national service program.
While Nevsun said it was required to use state-managed Segen for certain construction work, it said the use of conscripted labour at the Bisha site is not permitted.
"The company expresses regret if certain employees of Segen were conscripts four years ago, in the early part of the Bisha Mine's construction phase," Nevsun said in a statement.
The company said that it has procedures in place to ensure that all individuals working at the Bisha mine are there of their own free will and are not conscripts.
The gold mine is majority owned by Nevsun and produced some 313,000 ounces of gold in 2012.
The Human Rights Watch report, which details mining-related abuses in Eritrea, will be released on January 15.
Forced conscription of citizens to work without pay for an undetermined period of time is a serious issue in Eritrea. Several hundred refugees cross the border into neighbouring Ethiopia each month to escape the practice, the United Nation's refugee agency said in a report in July 2012.

Nevsun's disastrous reserve overestimate  

“With hindsight, it’s fair to say that perhaps we didn’t do enough at the very beginning,” he said.
When Vancouver-based Nevsun initiated construction of Bisha in late 2008, the government ordered the miner to enlist a state-controlled contractor called Segen Construction for some of the work. Eritrea is a fierce dictatorship, and Nevsun had no choice but to comply.

 Memebers of Eritrean national service at Bisha Mine project

By early 2009, there were concerns that at least some of Segen’s work force was made up of forced labourers from the government’s national service. They allegedly worked extremely long hours and had to live in unsanitary conditions for minimal pay.
Once the allegations surfaced, Mr. Davis said that Nevsun got a written guarantee from Segen that it would not use forced labour on site, and it began examining documentation from all of Segen’s employees in early 2009.
The Bisha mine entered production in early 2011. Last year, Nevsun tried to do some additional construction work without Segen. The Eritrean government intervened and forced the company to re-hire Segen as a contractor.
Some activists are still concerned the company is not doing enough to ensure there is no forced labour at the site. Nevsun has not visited the camp where Segen’s workers live and does not know how much they are paid, Mr. Davis said.
The Nevsun situation highlights the extreme risks and challenges that Canadian miners are facing when they work in autocratic countries, particularly those with no history of large-scale mining. Eritrea is facing numerous sanctions from the international community for supporting militants in Somalia.
Mr. Davis maintains that Nevsun’s investment is a major positive for the country. “We’re not the state. We’re contributing huge value to thousands of people in Eritrea,” he said.
Bisha is Eritrea’s first large-scale mine, but other mining companies are active in the country on earlier-stage projects. They will also have to deal with Segen and the forced labour concerns if they reach the construction phase.
“As we get closer to construction, it’s something we’ll have to pay close attention to,” said Greg Davis, vice-president of business development at Sunridge Gold Corp., which controls the Asmara project in Eritrea.