A ‘leading’ Chinese miner of Mozambique’s heavy sands linked to environmental destruction
A sand mining operation along the coast of central Mozambique’s Zambezia Province decimated hundreds of hectares of mangroves in just a few years, a Mongabay investigation has found. The area is under the control of Mozambique Heavy Sand Company VIII, part-owned by the Jinan Yuxiao Group, an influential Chinese mining group claiming to hold more than […]
A Chinese mining company linked to environmental destruction is operating along the coast of central Mozambique’s Zambezia Province, according to a Mongabay investigation. The company, Mozambique Heavy Sand Company VIII, is partially owned by Jinan Yuxiao Group, a powerful Chinese mining conglomerate with vast land holdings in Mozambique.
The company's concessions, covering an area larger than 700,000 soccer fields, are primarily focused on extracting heavy mineral sands, which yield valuable titanium ores used in various industries.
Environmental activists warn of the severe risks posed by heavy minerals mining along Mozambique’s coastline. Fatima Mimbire, an advocate for transparency in the country’s mining sector, expressed concern that most mineral sand mining companies in Mozambique are Chinese-owned. She stated that these companies are destroying the environment without regard for the consequences or the well-being of local communities.
Lammert Hilarides, an earth observation specialist at Wetlands International, corroborated the alarming trend, noting an increase in mangrove deforestation alerts from the Chinde district of Zambezia in late 2023. Hilarides is one of the organizations that collaborated to create Global Mangrove Watch (GMW), a platform designed to track mangrove recovery and loss.
Written by urgent.news from Mongabay's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
