development at Nordgold mines in West Africa Oleg Bazaleev, Head of - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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13 March 2019

Helping local communities in sustainable business development at Nordgold mines in West Africa

Oleg Bazaleev, Head of Sustainable Development Projects

Climate Change and Sahel

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• In Sahel, temperatures are rising 1.5 times faster than the global average
• Droughts and floods are longer and more frequent
• Roughly 80% of the Sahel's farmland is degraded
• Land available to pastoralists is shrinking
• Population growth

Climate Change + Food Insecurity + Extremists =

VIOLENCE IN SAHEL

* Sources: UN and World Economic Forum

Climate Change Fuels Poverty

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• Climate change forces people to

shift from agriculture to artisanal gold mining

• Thousands of men, women and children

put their health and their lives at risk through a dangerous and illegal mining

Artisanal miners in Burkina Faso

Climate Change Affects Agriculture and People

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According to Jacob Ouedraogo, Burkina Faso Minister for Agriculture and Irrigation (May 8th, 2018):

• Poor rainfall resulted in low 2017-2018 crops
• Cereal deficit of 477 000 tonnes
• 2,462,000 Burkinabe people lack food because of low crops

Local communities around Nordgold’s Bissa-Bouly and Taparko mines report similar problems

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Dozens of water wells have been constructed by the Nordgold mines in local communities

Food banks (Bissa-Bouly mine)

Bissa-Bouly mine bought food cheaply (in advance, with wholesale discounts) and established the food banks for three villages. Food supplies available to people at the hardest times of the year at normal prices. Poor people do not have food storages and buy food at high price. Food prices soar during rainy seasons, up to 40% or more. Communities themselves now control prices and distribution.

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Agricultural project at Yeou village

 Water tower  Water fountain  In the field School for adults built as part of the project  In the corn field 

 Partners: Taparko mine, AFEMIB (mining sector women association) and French Embassy in Burkina Faso.  Aim: To divert women working in artisanal mining to farming.  Resources and skills to women to start commercial farming.

Other programs to foster small agribusiness

• Tiben dam built for the Bissa-Bouly mine is a reliable all-year

source of water

• 100% banks of Tiben water reservoir are used by local people

for farming vegetables

• The Bissa-Bouly mine trained 100 young people and provided

equipment to them to start agricultural activities

• Since 2013, Bissa-Bouly mine bought the

vegetables worth of US$ 150’000 (86 mln FCFA) from local communities

• 70% of the vegetables consumed by the mine

are from local producers

Programs to foster small agribusiness

Agricultural products of AFEMIB project

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Bissa-Bouly soap making project

Imiougou Women’s Center (built by the mine) where soap is produced The women soap producers from Bissa village

• Three groups of soap producers:
• The business started after the trainings

provided by Nordgold

• The mine buys c. 400 litres of liquid soap

per month

Imiougou village (48 women) Sabce village (25 women) Bissa village (16 women)

Soap making project