Por Estacio Valoi
It’s almost 7am on September 24th, a hottest sunny day. 45 minutes after leaving the city center in a 4X4 vehicle we arrived in Moatize. We stood in front of the house of Amadssen Veteran, President of the Moatize residents’ committee, while we waited for him. On the opposite side of the house, black spots were visible on the leaves of a bush that caught my attention.
We stood in front of the house of Amadssen Veteran, President of the Moatize residents’ committee, while we waited for him. On the opposite side of the house, black particles were visible on the leaves of a bush that caught my attention. We are in the Liberdade neighborhood with a frontal view of the Vulcan coal mine at a distance of around 100 to 200 meters. The dry port is right around the corner from where we are, at a distance of between 30 and 50 meters!
For five days, night and day, we traveled around Moatize.In the Liberdade neighborhood, dust is all over everyone and everything. Motorcyclists rumble in a frantic back and forth in endless acceleration, children on their way to school, some dressed in uniform and others not, in a group of ten or less trying to cross the N7 National Road full of Vulcan vehicles and their subcontracted companies. Here, both children, young, old people all eat, drink and breathe the dust produced by Vulcan backed by the ruling government

Was not enough the gift left by VALE 15 years later after the government of Mozambique signed the contract with that mining compan. At the time, the government’s narrative was that coal would develop the country. With Vulcan, environmental, social and economic issues for workers got worsen!

Wilka Jamal Eugênio practically eats and drinks dust. Where you sleep you can’t escape the dust either. She is a baby of about three months. The child is pale with black, lively eyes. Perhaps even in his mother’s womb, he already knew the taste of the dust that marks their lives. Previously, the dust came from Vale, currently from VULCAN, which is the concessionaire that operates the Moatize coal mines.
Wilka spends her days between her home and the local hospital in Moatize. Coal dust causes very serious respiratory problems. Wilka is just one of the many faces doctors are familiar with from constant visits to the local hospital.
Wilka, like many others who live in the middle of the coal concession exploited by the Indian company VULCAN, pay a high price. Your health. Your life.
Tired , Eugenio, Wilka’s father, responds to the doctors: “Yes, we are coming from there. “We were three times to the hospital and the problem doesn’t go away. ”
In Moatize, the water turned black in several taps and swimming pools. In general, people don’t put their bodies in swimming pools. At the bottom of these, a black layer of concentrated dust can be seen.
There are many who seek to protect themselves from dust using the most varied means. However, dust is everywhere. On doors, on the windows of houses or vehicles. Dust gets into pantries and gets into food. In the clothes on the line. Dark people become darker because of dust stuck to their bodies. Even the fairest people end up looking dark!
Meanwhile, coal exploration continues apace. Various analyses, many reports made and studies carried out do not change the situation. Even with the government’s recognition of the amount of pollution that caused Wilka’s lungs and that of many others, there is no indication that the situation will change. There are no concrete measures to solve the problem, the closure of the mine, resettlement and compensation for the population remain a mirage.
From the Frelimo government, the same promises have been made for 15 years since the time when the coal mine was under concession to the Brazilian company VALE. What we hear is that the FRELIMO government does not know where to resettle people. But it is the same Frelimo government whose leaders own large hectares of land in the Mboza area in the Moatize district. Alberto Vaquina, former governor of Tete, Manuel Guimarães, former administrator of Moatize, grabbed thousands of hectares of land and then concession/sold it to Vulcan as it expanded. “They are waiting for the mine to expand.” In the ranks of the Mozambican political nomenclature, they rub their hands: “More money is coming.”
Vulcan will expand ‘its’ mining areas despite not having yet made the mine expansion plan available. Indian multinationals concerned with profit and FRELIMO leaders with five hundred and commissions. “In Moatize, TETE, there is no space for the resettlement of communities.”, say members of the local residents’ commission.
Mozambicans beaten, detained, shot, mutilated, houses cracked, forcibly removed from their lands to accommodate multinationals in mining concessions worth billions of dollars. These are minerals that serve to create jobs, wealth, social and economic well-being in other countries, but in the case of Mozambique, poverty remains after 30 years of looting! Partnerships, expropriation commissions!
In Tete “Industries collapsed, new ones did not emerge, future ones will not emerge either without commissions for a small political elite. Explosives factory in Tete, iron ore factory in Chiúta and many other projects such as the Revúbue mines, all stopped because of Nyusi, Celso Correia and Mesquita. They want a percentage in the business. Demon scoundrels.” Says Zacarias Colher Pneu.
Illnesses
“The Administrator of Moatize has always protected VALE and is now protecting VULCAN’. Residents of Moatize said.
Lives of thousands of people due to pollution are negotiated by the government of the day with
multinationals. The lives of communities are exchanged with offerings of footballs, sports equipment, financing of sports championships, supply of bags of cement, water in tanks, financing of municipal works, etc. These activities are inaugurated by the mayor himself and other prominent figures in Tete.
“So we need to enforce and remove people. That will be our priority, but from what we have heard from colleagues and from VULCAN, the government says it does not have space to resettle everyone and there is also no space for people to survive in the long term,” Samo said.
Our interlocutor does not think the idea of a plant curtain is viable. According to him, this should have been placed 20 years ago and not today. “Mozambique is part of the conventions and defends human rights. There is national and international legislation on this that should have already been applied. Before exploring a mining area, it is necessary to see what this means in terms of human lives. The lives of Moatize residents are being exchanged for financing projects of questionable viability sponsored by the regime of the day.
Our investigation found that one of the most affected sections, at least for our area, is section 4 but also in other neighborhoods, explosions occurred, especially during the day. Due to the complaints from these communities, Vulcan apparently minimized it, trying to avoid the population of Moatize during the day and implementing some palliative measures to try to reduce the dust with tank trucks watering the coal during the day every day. But as only the night keeps its secrets, the greatest activity is at night!
Amadssen Veteran reports a total disaster “It seems like there are no rules, the mining company doesn’t do the irrigation at night and that doesn’t happen, when we wake up in the morning and everything is full of dust”. And he asks “We have the expansion of the mine and the Moatize River nearby. What will happen now!?”
Veterano adds that the water in the aforementioned river only flows during the rainy season! It is believed that the mining company stopped the course of the river, once again bringing to the fore the issue of contamination of the waters of the Moatize river, which flows into the Revúbue river and the main river, with the probability of contaminating other rivers, especially in the rainy season, in addition to of the houses that are practically on the wall – sealing the mine, which puts people at permanent risk.
Suicides
Sitting in the restaurant on the banks of the Zambezi River, I am struck by an advertising spot on the Provincial Broadcaster of Rádio Moçambique -Tete before last October’s elections. Dumbfounded, I listen! They appeal to people, especially in the city of Moatize and the city of Tete, not to commit suicide. “…Join Vulcan, say no to suicide. We are in September, a month nicknamed yellow, we are all called to reflect on suicide cases and we are encouraged to ask for help… together we can change the narrative about suicide, etc. Audio
Paula Pan Apito, a 28-year-old young woman, tells us that with the departure of the Brazilian company Vale and the transfer of the mining concession into the hands of VULCAN, everything got worse. Workers are no longer entitled to food assistance, wages have fallen, and many have lost their jobs. “Many committed suicide on that bridge”
One of our members of the travel team adds that a couple friends of his who had VALE as their ‘golden el’, when the crisis hit Moatize, committed suicide. “There are several cases of suicide” that have taken place.
Another six months of waiting!
The residents’ committee suggests suspending mining while other mine closures.
Em Agosto de 2024, na sua aparição, Ivete Maibasse, Ministra moçambicana da Terra e Ambiente, mais uma vez reconheceu que “a VULCAN excedera aquilo que são os limites de poluição, detonações ao nível da mina sem observar aquilo que são os padrões de qualidade ambiental.’ Na altura informou a empresa que devia rever o seu plano de gestão ambiental.
In August 2024, in her appearance, Ivete Maibasse, Mozambican Minister of Land and Environment, once again acknowledged that “VULCAN had exceeded pollution limits, detonations at mine level without observing quality standards At the time, he informed the company that it should review its environmental management plan.
At dawned on September 24th of this year, the Moatize Residents’ Committee was not there for coffees and lunches, but met with several relevant actors to discuss issues relating to the impact of coal mining on the lives of the village’s inhabitants. VULCAN was not present, only the representatives of the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office of Tete, the National Agency for Environmental Quality Control, the NGO Justiça Ambiental, the Ombudsman who mentioned having had meetings with the district government, City Council and VULCAN with a view to to minimize the impact on the lives of populations due to the exploitation of mineral coal.
Some are in favor of resettlement, payment of compensation and others prefer to stop mining, but in general of the proposals presented at the meeting, the commission advanced on the need for resettlement of communities located in critical areas, close to sections 4 and 6. These sections cover the neighborhoods of Bagamaio, Nanctchere, 1º de Maio and Liberdade, as it is understood that mining activity has reached the level of unsustainability in the city of Moatize. There are communities that are 100 or 200 meters from the mine.
Speaking at the meeting, Almeida Ngovene said at the time, representing the Ombudsman, that he was sensitive to the cause of the residents of the city of Moatize affected by the exploitation of mineral coal in the open air.”
At the moving of October 2024, the expected result regarding the high level of pollution and non-compliance with formalities relating to exploration by Vulcan was reconfirmed. Meanwhile, communities are being dragged, removed at will by Vulcan, which is expanding its mining area, the nearby river is not escaping the contamination of its waters, but it has not yet presented its revised Environmental management plan to both the government and the Moatize residents’ committee. However, instead of urgently suspending Coal exploration, the minister informed Vulcan that he must deliver the aforementioned revised Environmental management plan within six months, after the end of his mandate!
The pollution level figures presented by the Residents’ Committee last August illustrated that dynamite explosions practically occurred every day in different sections, two or three per day, a scenario that until today November has not changed as we can see!
The committee of residents affected by coal exploration reported that the collection of atmospheric air quality data being carried out by Vulcandão involves the allocation of sample collection material in strategic locations with lower levels of pollution in a premeditated manner that will serve as subscription of critical places to discredit their arguments both material and legal aid and thus nullifying the facts presented by them to legal entities. These are areas of the town of Catete, on the outskirts of the town of Mphandue, that is, areas far from all mining operations and located upwind of all intrinsically affected areas.

Remember that the commission of residents of MOATIZE filed a case No. 459/2024 against Vulcan asking for accountability for environmental crimes and the process is ongoing, it has already heard several entities such as AQUA and others, the commission was also heard by SERNIC in last week. See notifications for the commission hearing below.
At the time, Joaquim Samo, President of the Order of Mining and Geotechnical Engineers of Mozambique, in his intervention made it known that the dust inhalation limit stipulated by the World Health Organization (WHO), known as PM, is 2.5 and VULCAN has already it had exploded with the scale and was above 5 PM and that the damage in terms of health was frightening and could cause respiratory problems, skin cancer, lung contamination, and psychological problems. “There are several problems that will arise, but it doesn’t take time.” Emphasized Samo
Collected Water from the Rovubwe river, from the Moatize river, collected from the borehole built in neighborhood-5, water piped by the Water Supply Fund (FIPAG) compared to Decree-Law Nr: 180/204 of 15 September – Regulation on Water Quality Water for consumption, from the results of water and air quality samples collected by the organization Justiça Ambiental in September-2024 submitted to a laboratory and with results available on 10/30/24, reconfirm a situation even more serious than before, the waters are ‘super contaminated, a crime, violation of human rights”. are above the regulation in some cases 5, 7, 10. 2000 times more.




https://aura.org.mz/storage/app/media/Documentos/DECRETOS/DIPLOMA%20Ministerial%20180-2004%20de%2015%20de%20 September_Aprova%20o%20Regulation%20about%20a%20Quality%20of%20%C3%81water%20for%20o%20Consumption%20Human.pdf
Mines Law
Mining Law of August 18, 2014, establishes a regulatory basis for mining exploration and social responsibility of mining companies. In its article 8 it says that mineral exploration must be carried out in a way that minimizes negative impacts on the population and requires companies to carry out environmental impact studies. And also in Article 41 paragraph e) and f) the Law states that mining companies must compensate land users and the population for the damage caused. Something that VULCAN is not doing.
Environmental Protection and Development Law Art. 4 law 97. complements the Mining Law and states that all activities, including mining, must be carried out in a sustainable manner.
PS : Some names are fictitious