Phone Call With HUM - PART 1.30 May 2018 07:57
I managed to get a phone call with Bert Monro following today�s RNS at 4.20pm regarding the security issue at the Komana West mining site. First, before I summarise the conversation I would like to express my deepest sympathy to those caught up in this episode, obviously those who lost their life this is very sad indeed and tragedy for their families. This thought and sentiment far outweighs any disruption to the share price and the drop that has happened because of the news. It pails into insignificance when lives are lost.
In terms of the incident itself, it appears that the Malian Armed Guard were called in to action by the Malian Government to attempt to resolve a dispute on the KW mining site. The KW mining site is not being mined now, it is due to be mined later in the year around October November. However, the operation to negotiate the movement off the site of the Artisanal miners is underway. There is a local and community leadership and indeed national government agreement / law in place with the local Artisanal miners that they must vacate the site when HUM plan to move in. Reading the RNS again and remembering what was spoken about when I was on the site visit, it appears that a small handful of maybe 4 or 5 Artisanal miners ignored the law in place and refused to leave, they got into a situation with the Armed Guard and put up resistance, as a result, three of the Artisanals were shot dead.
The press release had to deal in the facts alone, so the explanation of the event was not part of the release. Also, there are lives lost and out of respect for the families the company had to be strict in just reporting the facts.