Audit: Three mine lessees owe US$13.7 million in penalties for unrehabilitated land

Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis has disclosed that three mine lessees owed penalties to the Mines and Geology Department (MGD), totalling US$13.7 million, for failing to rehabilitate 264.14 hectares of mined-out land.

For years some members of parliament in constituencies where significant mining takes place have complained bitterly that large areas which have been mined-out remain in that state for extended periods without rehabilitation by the companies responsible for the mining.

In a performance audit tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, the auditor general said of the 264.14 hectares of mined-out land, one lessee accounted for 169.68 hectares or 64 per cent of the area not yet rehabilitated and US$9.89 million or 72 per cent of the total monetary exposure.