Exploitation minière : Le président Diomaye Faye demande plus de bénéfices pour les populations locales

Mine exploitation in many parts of the country does not actively participate in territorial development and does not benefit local populations, President Bassirou Diomaye Faye said during yesterday’s Council of Ministers. He stressed the strong need to shift to a more efficient strategy that could help the populations in mineral sites to take the maximum from the exploitation of mineral ressources. 

According to him, the government has considered this issue a “national priority”, and will take strong measures to address the situation. President Faye thus asked the Ministers responsible for Mines, Local Authorities, Finance, Economy, and Environment to proceed, under the supervision of the Prime Minister, to “the national assessment of the economic, social and environmental impact of mining on the development of polarized communities”.

The head of state deems it necessary to update ” the Fund for Support to Development of Local and Regional Authorities and basic social infrastructure investments resulting from the provisions of the Mining Code.” In addition, call has been launched to the government to define with territorial actors a consensual mechanism for improving relations between mining companies and populations through the preservation of the environment and the living environment, the ” promoting local jobs and better management of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).”

In the context of consolidating transparency in the mining sector, the president stressed to his ministers and Prime minister the strong “need to evaluate the combined and even complementary action of the Iron Mining Company of Eastern Senegal (MIFERSO) and the Mining Company of Senegal (SOMISEN)”.

He also asked the “Government to work, within the framework of sovereignty over our resources, for the establishment of the national Gold Trading Post and to satisfy the strong demand of our jewelers”, according to the communiqué issued after the weekly official conclave.