Bloated and distorted carcasses shimmered on the surface of Lake Ambavarano in southeastern Madagascar. Forty-year-old fisherman Olivier Randimbisoa lost count as they floated by.
“I know what it’s like to see a dead fish that’s been speared,” he said. “I’d never seen anything like this.”
A series of cyclones and storms had battered the region in early 2022, and in the days afterward, the air was still and calm. As Randimbisoa paddled around in his dugout canoe, he recognized the different species and called them by their local names: fiambazaha, saroa, vily, and malemiloha. Overnight, the fish he made his living from, the fish his wife and children ate, the fish that supported the entire lakeside community, were nearly gone.
“It was scary, because we have been eating fish from this lake for so long. We have fed our families, and now it’s polluted,” said Randimbisoa. “We have told our families not to go to the lake.”
Randimbisoa has a theory about what killed the fish. “It’s dirty water from the factory of QMM,” he said.
Lake Ambavarano, where Randimbisoa works, is connected to two other lakes — Besaroy and Lanirano — through a series of narrow waterways. The lakes are adjacent to QIT Madagascar Minerals, or QMM: a mine in Madagascar that’s 80 percent owned by the Anglo-Australian mining and metals behemoth Rio Tinto, and 20 percent by the government of Madagascar. The mine extracts ilmenite, a major source of titanium dioxide, which is mainly used as a white pigment in products like paints, plastics, and paper. QMM also produces monazite, a mineral that contains highly sought-after rare-earth elements used to produce the magnets in electric vehicles and wind turbines.
After the fish deaths, the government of Madagascar’s environmental regulator and Rio Tinto conducted water sampling work. Citing such testing, Rio Tinto says there is no proof that its mining killed the fish. Water sample analysis revealed “no conclusive link between our mine activities and the observed dead fish by community members,” a company spokesperson wrote in an email to The Intercept. Those results have not been made available to the public, despite requests by civil society groups and The Intercept.
Now, more than 15 years after QMM became operational, Rio Tinto is facing a likely lawsuit in an English court brought by U.K.-based law firm Leigh Day on behalf of residents of villages near the QMM mine. In a letter of claim, a document that is an early step in a lawsuit in the U.K., the villagers accuse Rio Tinto of contaminating the waterways and lakes that they use for domestic purposes with elevated and harmful levels of uranium and lead, which pose a serious risk to human health. Leigh Day commissioned blood lead level testing in the area around the mine as part of its research into the claim. According to the letter of claim, which was sent on Tuesday, the testing shows that 58 people living around the mine have elevated levels of lead, and that the majority of cases exceed the threshold at which the World Health Organization recommends clinical and environmental interventions, 5 micrograms per deciliter. The claim alleges that the most likely cause of the elevated levels is a result of QMM’s mine processes.
“They and other local families are being forced to consume water which is contaminated with harmful heavy metals.”
“Whilst Rio Tinto extracts large profits from its mining operations in Madagascar, our clients’ case is that they and other local families are being forced to consume water which is contaminated with harmful heavy metals. In bringing this case, our clients are seeking accountability and justice for the damage that has been caused to their local environment and their health,” Paul Dowling, Leigh Day’s lead partner on the case, told The Intercept.
Leigh Day’s blood lead level testing results are a significant development that may for the first time quantify the detrimental health impacts their clients allege are posed by QMM. Surface water pollution and lead poisoning are both global problems, and the case will be watched closely not just by Rio Tinto shareholders, but by global environmental justice advocates in other nations where villagers also accuse industrial giants of polluting their waterways.
“We have received the letter from Leigh Day,” said the Rio Tinto spokesperson, who declined further comment on the allegations. The spokesperson pointed to a published report that states that the company’s recent water analysis had not detected metals, including uranium and lead, that had previously been identified as potential concerns.
Madagascar’s environmental regulator, the National Office for the Environment, or ONE, says it has periodically monitored QMM’s activities over the last decade and has tested the water following past complaints about contamination. “In the face of these accusations, ONE requested several expert analyses … the results of which indicated no contamination of surface waters nor mining sites,” Hery Rajaomanana, ONE’s director of environmental integration and sustainable development, told The Intercept in March.
Photo: Patrick Meinhardt for The Intercept
Rio Tinto, which has over 52,000 employees and saw net earnings of $12.4 billion in 2022, has a troubled track record in Madagascar.
The company has been accused by local residents, civil society groups, and media outlets of harming the endangered forest, endangering rare endemic species, displacing villagers without adequate compensation, disrupting fishers’ livelihoods, and failing to fulfill promises to employ locals. Protests against the mine have been ongoing since its establishment. In response to allegations, a Rio Tinto spokesperson stated a commitment to addressing community concerns and engaging in dialogue to minimize operational impacts while providing sustainable benefits to host communities.
Legal claims against Rio Tinto involve contamination of water sources and lakes near the Anôsy mine in Madagascar with harmful levels of uranium and lead, posing health risks to nearby villagers. The company declined to comment on the accusations, stating that their water analysis did not detect the metals in question. The Malagasy government, a partial owner of the mine, also denied evidence of water contamination. The case is being closely monitored by environmental advocates globally, given the prevalence of surface water pollution and lead poisoning issues.
Rio Tinto, a longstanding metals and mining corporation, has faced various controversies, including the destruction of Aboriginal Australian sites, workplace misconduct allegations, bribery accusations, and financial impropriety in multiple countries. The company’s actions have drawn criticism from environmentalists, indigenous groups, and investors alike. Recent reports by insiders highlighted concerns about Rio Tinto’s unethical practices, including allegations of irregular payments in Madagascar and a culture of bullying and corruption across its global operations.
Despite these challenges, Rio Tinto continues to pursue mining projects in various countries, facing scrutiny over its environmental impact and corporate practices. The company’s response to allegations and its strategic approach to legal challenges have raised further questions about its commitment to transparency and ethical conduct. In a year marked by political turmoil and public distrust, Rio Tinto’s operations remain under intense scrutiny in Madagascar and beyond. In the midst of a crowded field of opposition candidates, Incumbent President Andry Rajoelina emerged victorious in an election marked by accusations of fraud, low voter turnout, and violence.
Rajoelina’s top aide was arrested in London last August for soliciting a bribe from the British mining company Gemfields. Despite being convicted in a London court in February, Rajoelina managed to finalize new terms with Rio Tinto regarding their fiscal agreement in August 2023. As part of the agreement, Rio Tinto committed to investing in infrastructure and local community projects, with plans to expand into Petriky and Sainte Luce along Madagascar’s eastern coastline.
The region where Rio Tinto operates is a unique ecosystem known for its endangered species and fragile habitat. Tahiry Ratsiambahotra, an activist and founder of LuSud, has been a vocal critic of the government and Rio Tinto’s presence in the area. He recalls a time when Fort Dauphin was a paradise for nature lovers, now transformed into a gritty environment with stark disparities between those benefitting from the mine and those left behind.
Ratsiambahotra founded LuSud in 1998 to oppose the mineral sands project, citing concerns about environmental impacts and the lack of benefits for the local people. Despite his efforts to raise awareness and gather opposition, Rio Tinto proceeded with the project, displacing families and altering the once pristine landscape. A World Bank evaluation projected that approximately 1,900 individuals would be displaced either temporarily or permanently.
“They knew if QMM took the land, they were lost. So, they tried to protect the land,” Ratsiambahotra said. “But they were afraid of the government, because they were powerful. So, this is a question. They could fight against QMM, but how to fight against their own government?”
“We were ‘eggs fighting against stones,'” said 40-year-old Georges Marolahy Razafidrafara, a resident of Mandramondramotra, the village located closest to the mine.
In the end, the eggs lost the fight. QMM became one of the first large-scale investors in Madagascar in 1998, when the company signed an agreement with the government that allowed for concessionary breaks on taxes, duties, and royalties.
“People didn’t yet understand the ecological impact of the mine,” Ratsiambahotra said. “So, Parliament adopted the agreement.”
Mbola Jeannot is the patriarch of a large family living in a two-bedroom hut in a fishing village on the ocean shore. One day, representatives from QMM came to see him about land needed for the mine’s operations.
“They didn’t bargain,” said Jeannot. “They said, ‘Where is your land? Here? Everyone stand in your portion of land. This is yours? OK, here is your money.’”
Jeannot says he received a check and that he added his thumbprint to the bottom of the document of sales signed by the CEO of QMM, indicating that he read and understood the agreement.
Jeannot couldn’t afford to say no to the money. He felt that “we would have lost our land” either way, he said.
Since then, hundreds of Malagasy people around the region have tried to resist evictions and relocation and to get paid fairly for their lost lands. In 2010, Leigh Day considered taking action against Rio Tinto on behalf of villagers seeking compensation. The process fell apart, however, after many claimants accepted compensation from QMM. Rio Tinto and Leigh Day declined to comment.
The extractive industry watchdog Publish What You Pay conducted a community survey of 368 villagers living around the mine in March 2022. The report found that over 90 percent of survey respondents said they had suffered as a result of losing access to natural resources, including their land. A third of respondents said they lost their lands directly to QMM. 60 percent of those surveyed said that they had received compensation from the mining company, 65 percent of whom reported difficulties in collecting this compensation.
This David-and-Goliath dynamic is typical of the company. Rio Tinto wields tremendous influence in Madagascar, which has a gross domestic product of at least $14 billion, less than half the GDP of the state of Vermont. Like other businesses, QMM pays fees to Madagascar’s environmental regulator for monitoring services. According to civil society reports, QMM’s fees come to $30,000-$40,000 per year. “How can we ever expect the ONE to be independent in its assessment when it’s fueled by companies?” said Ketakandriana Rafitoson, the national coordinator of Publish What You Pay Madagascar. (Rajaomanana, of the National Office for the Environment, told The Intercept that “ONE remains totally independent and objective in the realization of its monitoring duties.”)
Before building QMM, the company conducted a series of assessments to determine the potential social, environmental, and economic impacts of the mine on the surrounding area. Baseline water testing from 2001 revealed that the surface water from lakes and rivers surrounding the mine was free from high levels of cadmium, lead, and uranium.
To support its mining operations, QMM planned to construct a weir, or barrier, where Lake Ambavarano meets the mouth of the estuary that connects to the Indian Ocean to control water flows and water level heights. But the company was warned that the weir had the potential to permanently change the occasionally brackish lagoon system into freshwater, which would affect fish and fisherfolk in the region. With support from the World Bank, it also built a port in Fort Dauphin to export raw materials to Rio Tinto’s processing plant in Canada.
Despite myriad concerns by LuSud, the World Bank, and other bodies involved in early impact assessments of the mine, QMM received a legal license to begin operations in 2005. The license covered three mine sites to be mined sequentially under a 100-year lease from the Malagasy government. QMM’s mine and processing facility was built by Fluor, an American multinational engineering and construction giant. Mine managers estimated that at peak capacity, QMM would be able to produce nearly 2 million tons of unrefined ilmenite ore. Ilmenite ore imports to the U.S. were priced at $290 per ton in 2022. The construction of a physical barrier stopped the inundations of salt water from the sea, effectively converting Ambavarano into a freshwater lake and causing the loss of nearly all species of fish that thrived in brackish conditions. Since the start of the Rio Tinto mining operation, at least 27 fish species have disappeared from the lakes.
Olivier Randimbisoa, a fisherman affected by the barrier, used to have a thriving fishing business, but now struggles to make ends meet. Despite assurances from the mining company that they would compensate him for any work affected by the mine, payments abruptly stopped without explanation. The fisherfolk in the area have been recommended urgent steps to remedy their situation due to the direct damage caused by the mine’s operations.
Jeannot, an ocean fisherman, has been catching fish and lobster since he was 14 years old. His trade was passed down to his sons, but tragically, his eldest son drowned at sea during a fishing expedition. Jeannot now fishes with his younger son, Zézé, but their fishing spots have been impacted by the construction of a port by QMM without consultation with the ocean fishers. QMM provided compensation to the fishers during the construction period and assured them they could resume work once it was finished. However, they were not informed that the construction of the port would have a lasting impact on the fish population in the harbor, limiting their fishing times to when container ships were not present.
Jeannot expressed concern that their livelihoods had been ruined, and the environment around the port had suffered as a result. In response to these concerns, QMM engaged in a grievance and compensation program with the government of Madagascar and community representatives. By March 2023, over 5,000 eligible fisherfolk and natural resource users had received compensation from QMM for the cumulative impact of their operations.
The QMM mine in Madagascar extracts ilmenite from mineral-rich sands by using a dredging process that separates out the heavier sands. This mining process also releases radioactive elements like uranium and thorium into the water, which is then discharged as wastewater.
Despite regulatory requirements for an 80-meter buffer zone between mining operations and ecologically sensitive areas, QMM was accused of breaching this zone. After an independent study confirmed the breach, QMM agreed to revert back to the 80-meter buffer zone.
Tailings, or leftover materials from the mining process, can be highly toxic or radioactive and should be properly contained and treated. The QMM mine uses passive water treatment systems to treat its mining basin water, but concerns have been raised about the potential for these systems to release contaminants back into the environment.
Rio Tinto denies having any tailings at the QMM mine, referring to their tailings dam as a berm. However, there have been reports of berm failures at the mine, leading to harmful mine waste releases. As a result, QMM stopped discharging its process water into the surrounding wetlands in August 2020. In the following year, Rio Tinto published a report that revealed its “natural” filtration system was not functioning as intended, leading to the release of excessive levels of aluminum and cadmium into the water surrounding the mine.
After two additional berm failures in early 2022 due to severe weather conditions, QMM conducted a controlled water release approved by Malagasy regulators to prevent further environmental damage. This action followed protests from local communities who were banned from fishing due to dead fish appearing in the lakes.
Despite Rio Tinto denying responsibility for the fish deaths, investigations by QMM and environmental regulators linked acidic water and elevated aluminum levels from the mine to the incidents. Similar issues at other mining sites have caused environmental devastation and harm to local populations.
The decline in fishing as a livelihood has forced families to seek alternative sources of income. Some, like Flogone Razatihanta, have joined weaving cooperatives supported by a nonprofit with funding from QMM. However, challenges such as lack of market access and diminished mahampy resources have hindered their success.
Efforts by Rio Tinto to address water quality issues have included the construction of a pilot-scale water treatment plant to comply with national regulations. Despite these efforts, residents in the area continue to face challenges related to water access and quality. In its most recent water report, QMM clarified that the water treated in their facility is solely intended for the mine workforce and specific communities residing near the mine. The report, released at the end of 2023, highlighted concerns raised about potential harm to the quality and availability of water due to QMM’s operations at Mandena. QMM’s managing director emphasized their efforts to address transparency and equity issues in water management.
To improve community engagement in water management, QMM plans to develop a community-led water monitoring program. This strategy aims to enhance their understanding of how local communities utilize the land and environment, ultimately improving their water management strategies.
Following the discovery of a breach in the buffer zone by ALT-UK in 2017, a radioactivity study was conducted by ecologist Swanson, revealing detectable uranium concentrations in river water samples exceeding WHO guidelines. QMM denied responsibility for the elevated uranium levels, attributing them to natural geological conditions predating their operations.
Despite the denial, QMM has begun delivering water by boat to lakeside villages and is constructing water treatment facilities and pumps to establish safe water infrastructure for the local population. These initiatives are ongoing, initiated only after resident protests and years post-mine operations commencement.
An analysis by mining expert Emerman using Rio Tinto data and local samples indicated significantly elevated lead and uranium concentrations downstream from the mine, implicating QMM as the contamination source. The toxicity of uranium and lead poses severe health risks, particularly to children, impacting neurologic development and kidney function.
The lack of stringent safety measures in countries like Madagascar, as compared to more regulated regions, contributes to mining-related contamination issues. Experts stress the critical need for monitoring and addressing such concerns to safeguard public health and the environment. Fisherman Olivier Randimbisoa and his niece have reported health issues in their children they attribute to drinking lake water contaminated by QMM’s operations. Doctors have been unsuccessful in identifying the cause of the issue, leaving the parents in a state of panic.
“We just want to be healthy,” Razafimandimby said.
In this region of Madagascar, which is plagued by parasites and water-borne diseases, pinpointing a specific child’s illness is challenging. The area lacks high-quality healthcare facilities. A supposedly top-tier center revealed a dilapidated building with limited resources. Despite serving numerous villages near the mine, there were only nurses available for patient care, not medical doctors. The facility had unreliable power, minimal refrigeration, and inadequate equipment.
There was no public blood lead level testing available for the population surrounding the QMM mine until recently. A legal claim by Leigh Day revealed elevated lead levels in 58 individuals, including children, living near the mine. Studies show that children with lead levels above 5 micrograms per deciliter are likely to experience some level of mental impairment.
An expert toxicologist recommended ongoing blood lead testing for all 58 individuals tested, along with additional interventions for at-risk groups. One client with high lead levels was advised to undergo chelation therapy to eliminate pollutants from the bloodstream.
Rio Tinto’s QMM Water Report 2021-2023 showed that water quality parameters were within acceptable limits during the reporting period. However, independent assessments raised concerns about the company’s data analysis practices. Rio Tinto stated that they began using external laboratories for water quality analysis and are committed to managing radiation and water quality transparently.
A radioactivity study commissioned by Rio Tinto concluded that the company’s contribution to radiation levels in the community is minimal and within regulatory limits. However, experts have expressed concerns about the study’s limitations, particularly the lack of data during wastewater discharge.
Swanson, a radioactivity expert, highlighted the need for improved study design and data collection to ensure accurate results. Rio Tinto invited Swanson to provide feedback on the report, but a meeting has not yet taken place. “We are dedicated to effectively managing radiation at our operations and are committed to collaborating transparently with the regulator and the host communities to ensure thorough monitoring.” Can you please rewrite this sentence? Please provide an alternative version of the text.
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