From the rush on the rare earths of Ampasindava, only holes remain. Thousands of holes more or less well filled. And five large pools of 20 meters on each side with walls lined with gray plastic tarpaulins that have now decomposed. Marie-Angèle Ravelo can testify to this: squatting in front of a cavity one meter in diameter covered with logs to prevent children and zebus from falling, this energetic woman, spokesperson for the inhabitants of Betaimboa, experienced the frenzy that took the region ten years ago.
No one at the time really understood what was being sought, or when it was going to end. “The men had GPS. They came to our fields and dug holes 10 meters deep. At first, they only took samples every meter with a kapok [a 300g measure used for rice]. They told us they wanted to analyze them, then they took all the land. We couldn’t resist it,” says the 50-year-old amid the vanilla vines that run along the trees in a shady undergrowth.
Located in the northwest of Madagascar opposite the island of Nosi Be, the mountainous peninsula of Ampasindava is largely covered with forests. Without roads, it faces the sea which is often the shortest way for Sakalava peasants to reach the surrounding towns and sell their harvests of vanilla, pepper, coffee or cocoa. But, at the start of the austral winter, under a still scorching sun, anxiety pierces through indolence. “They will come back. It’s just a matter of time. Some vazaha [white people] passed through a nearby village not long ago, ”says Marie-Angèle Ravelo, who has become accustomed to living on the lookout.
And for good reason: his village, Betaimboa, is located within the mining concession which occupies 300 km2 in Ampasindava, or a third of the peninsula, the rest being classified as a protected natural area. According to the most recent assessments, 628 million tons of ionic clays lie dormant in these subsoils with a high concentration of rare earths. These designate a group of seventeen metallic elements whose properties, in particular magnetic ones, make them highly sought-after components in advanced technologies developed for wind turbines, solar panels or even electric motors. Among them, dysprosium, neodymium and europium – present in Ampasindava – are the most requested and therefore the most expensive.
Only research permits have been issued
So, since 2009, the region has lived to the rhythm of the upheavals of the concession. Depending on the economic situation and the financial difficulties of its shareholders, the project has changed owners several times. Australian Allan Mulligan is the latest to think he’s got his hands on an extraordinary deal. “No one could have imagined that such a small company could catch such a big elephant. Ampasindava is one of the largest rare earth deposits outside of China [accounting for 70% of global production in 2022]. And it is ready to be developed. I’m excited, very excited about this project, “he rejoiced, as an old-timer, in a conference on minerals for batteries organized in Perth (Australia) in April.
To show how much he believes in it, Allan Mulligan named the company created in April 2022 with three other compatriots, Harena, which means “treasure” in Malagasy. In October 2022, it bought Reenova Rare Earth Malagasy, a company owned by Singaporean investors, the latest in the cascade of entities which – on paper – have succeeded each other since 2009 to exploit the deposit.
So far, however, only exploration permits have been issued. Three in total over a period of eleven years, the maximum period granted by the Malagasy administration before the mining company must demonstrate its ability to operate. This is what led Reenova to apply in September 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, for an operating permit. In reality, society had already begun to crumble.
In Ambanja, capital of the district of the same name located 50 kilometers from the peninsula, the iron curtains of the blue and ocher house which housed the offices and the laboratory of Reenova are drawn. Even the guard no longer responds. Forty employees officially still under contract have not been paid for almost two years. This is the case of the former communications manager, Parfait Sangoay: “I worked for them for six years. At the peak of activity, there were up to 1,000 workers a day on the site. I had to explain the project to the people. This mine is a lot of money for Westerners. But now we don’t know what will happen. Will it be different with Harena? “, he wonders without hiding the hostility he faced by advertising the miners.
Environmental impact
In the small town, the announcement of the return of foreign investors was quick to spread and Raymond Mandiny, the president of the Committee of reflection and action for the development and the environment of Sambirano (Crades), is at again on a war footing. “I had never heard of rare earths until 2009. But we learned and now know that the chemicals they use to extract the minerals can kill. Fortunately, they did not have time to do their tests. Large basins have been prepared but they have never been used”, says this figure of the mobilization against the exploitation of the rare earths of Ampasindava.
This little man with a shaved head who speaks with authority has his antennas in all the villages of the peninsula. Even the Sakalave king Tsiaraso IV has now sided with them, he says: “Several thousand peasants are directly threatened by the mine. What are we going to give them? In Madagascar, I have never seen that mining activity is beneficial to communities. »
The extraction of rare earths is known for its deleterious impact on the environment. Mountains of rock must be fractured to extract minute quantities of minerals. In the case of Ampasindava, the calculations promise 8 kg of rare earths in 10 tonnes of clay rock. The leaching process most often used by industrialists is also high-risk because it consumes large quantities of chemical solutions such as ammonium sulphate to isolate the metals sought in the crushed rock. Contamination of groundwater is the main danger.
Finally, the presence of rare earths generally goes hand in hand with that of radioactive thorium and uranium. The studies carried out by the German company Tantalus, the first to which the concession had been awarded, had long led to this subject being dismissed. “Concentrations of thorium and uranium are low, which reduces the risk of future environmental issues known to impede the economic development of this type of project,” the company said in 2011.
High levels of natural radioactivity
An article published in October 2021 in the American Journal of Innovative Research and Applied Science brushed aside this finding. From 49 samples taken in 2019, Olivier Rafidimanantsoa (from the University of Antananarivo) who led this work, noted levels of natural radioactivity “higher than the world average values” for uranium, thorium and potassium . This could “create quite significant risks to the local population in the study area. Awareness of the effect of natural radioactivity must be a priority as well as the implementation of the radiation protection system for the public and the worker”, he concludes.
The mining concession encompasses about fifteen villages. Antsirabe, with its solid houses and Canal antennas on the roofs, is one of the most prosperous of them. At the entrance to the peninsula and an hour’s drive from the RN6 which leads to Ambanja, traders come to buy organic vanilla.
“As mayor, I cannot oppose this project, comments, cautiously, Raphaël Moralahy, but our village has developed thanks to agriculture and vanilla in particular. The mining concession straddles the plantations of more than a thousand peasants. The companies have never kept their promises either for the rehabilitation of the school or to support new activities. Now we are afraid of the consequences of chemical contamination of rivers. »
On his desk, between stamps and the flag of Madagascar, the photo of a landscape catches the eye, with its caption borrowed from the Chinese writer, Nobel Prize for Literature in 2000, Gao Xingjian: “The man plunders nature, but nature always ends up taking revenge. »
“New Land of Sacrifice”
Nature still retains its rights in Ampasindava thanks to the protected area created in 2015. “We pleaded for the reserve to cover the entire peninsula, but we were unsuccessful,” recalls Jeannie Raharimampionona, from Missouri Botanical Garden, which contributed to the project by inventorying the fauna and flora. “Ampasindava has unique ecosystems and climate. It is a border zone of hybridization between the north and the south of the island where there are relics of almost primary forests and species that are found nowhere else, “explains the botanist. This projection of land on the sea, lined with mangroves, remains the refuge of several species of lemurs including the small Lepilemur mittermeieri, named in honor of the American primatologist Russell Mittermeier, at the origin of the reference work on the Lemurs of Madagascar published in 1994.
Of course, the prospect of mine worries. “The villagers will not be able to stay near the mine and they will migrate to the protected area, which will increase the pressure on an already fragile balance,” fears Joël Narivony, of the NGO Famelona, ??in charge of managing the site. Some 15,000 people already live within the protected area. Two hours by speedboat from Ampasindava, on the island of Nosi Be, environmental activists and scientists are also on the alert. “People depend on the sea for food and the currents go up from Ampasindava to Nosi Be. What will they do when the pollution has ruined everything? asks Gisèle Bakary.
“The region from here to Diego Suarez Bay is one of the richest areas in the world for marine biodiversity. Whales come to breed there and there are still some dugongs. Do we feel like sacrificing them? “, Continues this retired biologist from the National Center for Oceanographic Research. The archipelago’s tourist operators have also taken a stand: “Madagascar cannot promote sustainable tourism by claiming to protect the environment and open the way to the exploitation of rare earths in the same place”, protests Joël Soatra , the spokesperson for a hundred companies in the sector.
Contacted by Le Monde, Allan Mulligan wants to be reassuring: “Ampasindava is part of the new generation of very low impact extractive projects. It will leave a minimal environmental footprint during operations and zero residual impact, while producing vital “green minerals” for the renewable energy sector, he said in his letter to us. The ores are only a few meters from the surface, which means that only limited volumes of rock can be processed. We will not perform in situ leaching and the ores do not contain radioactive materials. The waste will be washed and reintroduced into the extraction area, which will be covered with previously stored topsoil. »
Not sure that this is enough to appease those who fear that the exploitation of the rare earths of Ampasindava will lead to a vast environmental and human disaster and see in this predation of resources by Western companies the repetition of a long history, this time -here under cover of green transition. Taking up the thesis of the American geographer Julie Klinger on the “borders of rare earths”, the sociologist Zo Randriamaro does not hesitate to speak of Ampasindava as a “new zone of sacrifice” in which the destruction of lives and local landscapes will be the price to pay to enable rich countries to adapt to climate change.
In May, after long procrastination, the government announced the lifting of the moratorium introduced in 2011 on the granting of exploitation licenses and published a new mining code which provides in particular for the increase in royalties paid by companies from 2% to 5% on the value of resources exported. With the stated ambition of placing Madagascar in the global competition for access to critical minerals with which the island is abundantly endowed. Harena Resources may see this as an encouraging sign before having to face local opposition which, fifteen years after the arrival of the first foreign investors, is still mobilized.
