Human Rights Update: Petra Confronts over 1,000 Illegal Diggers

(IDEX Online) - Petra Diamonds has outlined its 10-point plan for change at the Williamson mine, in Tanzania, following claims that its security staff had been "ruthless and militaristic" in their dealings with illegal diggers.

It also provided details of some of the 79 recorded incursions onto its site in the three months to the end of January, to indicate the scale of the problem it faces.

Petra, which has a 75 per cent stake in the deposit (the remainder is government-owned) has commissioned an external inquiry, suspended the security team's head and improved training for its staff,  and closed the on-site police facility where arrested illegal diggers were temporarily detained.

It has implemented other changes in addition at the mine (pictured), which extends across over 30km2.

The miner said confrontations during the three-month period involved about 1,091 illegal diggers. In 60 of the 79 cases no force was used, it said, despite the illegal diggers becoming aggressive in eight of them.

The update follows the publication last November of a hard-hitting report by the UK-based charity RAID.

It claimed people had been "shot with little or no warning, stabbed, detained, stripped, beaten, incarcerated for days in a filthy and cramped holding cell by the mine's entrance, deprived of food and medical treatment, and/or handcuffed to hospital beds at the mine's medical facility."

It also presented evidence indicating that since Petra Diamonds acquired the Williamson mine in 2009, there had been at least seven killings and 41 assaults of local residents.

Earlier in 2020 the UK-based law firm Leigh Day issued claim forms in the hiHigh Court of England and Wales on behalf of 32 anonymous individuals who alleged breaches of human rights at the Williamson Mine.

Petra, a UK-listed miner, says in its conclusion to the update: "The incidents and information described here remain of great concern to the board and management of PDL (Petra Diamonds Ltd). 

"As part of its operational responsibilities, WDL (Williamson Diamonds Limited, ie Petra and the Tanzania government) nevertheless has an obligation and right to protect its property from the illegal exploitation of its diamond resource, in the interests of all stakeholders. 

"The broader and comprehensive investigation into the previous allegations of human rights violations at the Williamson Mine, is nearing completion and PDL will provide feedback on this by the end of the quarter as previously advised."