Australian company Globe Metals & Mining has been exploring the Kanyika region in Northern Malawi for niobium and tantalum mining since 2006 [1]. In 2011, the company started negotiating resettlement and compensation with the Kanyika community. After the company ensured the project was financially viable in 2012, inhabitants of the area were told they would soon be relocated, but repeated delays left them waiting in uncertainty for years [1].

The Kayika Niobium Project (KNP) is to be the first niobium mine in Africa, expected to generate 5.6 billion USD over its lifespan through the production of niobium pentoxide and tantalum pentoxide, which are primarily used in the steel industry [3]. These metals are mainly employed in the automotive and construction sectors. Novel applications in the production of electric vehicles, batteries, and gas and wind turbines make these rare metals of high demand for the green transition. 

The planned mine is expected to be a great source of government revenues through royalties and profit taxes [1]. The Malawian economy has long depended largely on tobacco cultivation, but since this industry is decreasing, the government is actively campaigning for mining to become the country’s new focus. Globe Metals & Mining’s chairman emphasizes the employment opportunities the mine would create, as well as the investments in education, health, sports, and infrastructure it would enable. 

The mining company hired Synergistics Environmental Services Ltd. to carry out an environmental impact assessment of the project [4]. According to this report, at the end of the mine’s 23-year lifespan (which is extendable to 38 years), the company is expected to leave behind an open pit 2.2 kilometers in length, 300 meters in width, and 130 meters in depth, which will be almost impossible to rehabilitate [5]. By that time, approximately 820 people would have been displaced from a large area area.

The Kanyika community had not been consulted before the arrival of the mining company in 2006 [6]. From the very start, the villagers have been reluctant over the relocation prospects. As the village chief asks: “What is the price of being uprooted like this? Who benefits from our dislocation?” [1]. Livelihood is their prime concern: will they have access to water, grazing lands, schools, and health centers once they are relocated? Over the years awaiting their relocation, it remained unclear how and with what amount the community would be compensated [1].  

In 2012, the mining company told the villagers to no longer renovate their homes and cultivate their lands because of the upcoming relocation. In the years that followed, houses were neglected, with approximately 45 of them even collapsing [7]. The river that flowed through the area and upon which the villagers’ livelihoods depended has dried up, and croplands have been damaged [2]. Soil fertility has deteriorated, rendering the croplands less suitable for agricultural production. 

Further, heritage sites, including graves that are of cultural and religious value to the community, have been affected [2]. The company dug large trenches in the ground, which have become breeding grounds for malaria-carrying mosquitos [8]. All in all, the area has aesthetically degraded and has become unsuitable for habitation [2]. The community is tormented by poverty and food insecurity.

The company in charge of the environmental impact assessment discovered high concentrations of uranium in surface waters [4]. Uranium contamination can lead to kidney failure and lung cancer after long-term exposure. Although the region is naturally rich in uranium, the possibility that mining activities had something to do with these extraordinary levels cannot be ruled out.

In August 2017, 243 Kanyika community members pressed charges against the Malawian government and Globe Metals & Mining over not having been resettled and compensated [6]. The claim specifies that the enduring presence of Globe Metals & Mining is responsible for poverty and food insecurity in the area. Throughout the legal struggle, the community was supported by the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC). In November 2017, the government and the company filed a counterchallenge to the claim. After a failed mediation process, the villagers ceased persecution in 2019.

The mining company received its mining license in August 2021. After 15 years of living in suspense, the community has little trust they will reap the benefits of the project any time soon [1]. Chief Mabilabo expressed as early as 2016: “We had dreams that this area would transform, my people would greatly benefit from the minerals, but these are just dashed hopes” [9].

So far, 239 households have received advance payments of compensation of 270 USD per household [10]. For the affected community, however, the advance payments raise more questions than answers, since they are unsure what the money is meant to compensate and how much they can still expect [1]. The community has witnessed villages in the wider region suffering detrimental impacts from other mines that were brought to them under false promises by mining companies. 

- Estimated average production is 3,250 tonnes of niobium and 140 tonnes of tantalum per year [3].

- The government is expected to receive 86,500,000 USD in royalties and 225,000,000 USD in profit taxes over the project's estimated 23 year lifespan [1].