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In May 2001, QMM (QIT Madagascar Minerals) published the results of a comprehensive Social and Environmental Impact Assessment it had commissioned on the ilmenite project. It makes riveting reading and shows just how very far ahead and in what great detail a responsible mining company needs to look before deciding whether to proceed with mining. It was a hot and lazy Sunday afternoon, and after the one hour flight from Tana I checked into my hotel and met up with Dan Lambert, president of the Madagascar Ilmenite project, who had just arrived from Quebec. Also in town was Jean Giroux, the project development director. Over the next few days I was able to spend many hours with these two likable and lively Canadians who had been overseeing the project for many years.

Whilst the ilmenite deposit of Fort Dauphin represents an enormous store of wealth to Madagascar, the island has never known an investment of the scale needed to develop a modern ilmenite mine and its associated infrastructure. However desirable in terms of the national economy there would be some serious problems to be overcome at the local level. How do you create a modern mine in a country so desperately poor without causing mass dislocation of the population in their desperate search for jobs and opportunities at the mine? How can the mine's impact on local communities and their largely subsistence economy be ameliorated? And what about all those unique Madagascan plants, animals and forests in the area?

At Fort Dauphin I met the neatly dressed and softly spoken Ny Fanja Rakotomalala, QMM's regional director. A graduate of Tananarive University and the Paris School of Mining, he is part of an impressive team put together by QMM for the feasibility study. Like most of the team, Ny Fanja is Malgache and, like Ny Fanja, many of the team are local graduates.



In May 2001, QMM (QIT Madagascar Minerals) published the results of a comprehensive Social and Environmental Impact Assessment it had commissioned on the ilmenite project. It makes riveting reading and shows just how very far ahead and in what great detail a responsible mining company needs to look before deciding whether to proceed with mining. It was a hot and lazy Sunday afternoon, and after the one hour flight from Tana I checked into my hotel and met up with Dan Lambert, president of the Madagascar Ilmenite project, who had just arrived from Quebec. Also in town was Jean Giroux, the project development director. Over the next few days I was able to spend many hours with these two likable and lively Canadians who had been overseeing the project for many years. Whilst the ilmenite deposit of Fort Dauphin represents an enormous store of wealth to Madagascar, the island has never known an investment of the scale needed to develop a modern ilmenite mine and its associated infrastructure. However desirable in terms of the national economy there would be some serious problems to be overcome at the local level. How do you create a modern mine in a country so desperately poor without causing mass dislocation of the population in their desperate search for jobs and opportunities at the mine? How can the mine's impact on local communities and their largely subsistence economy be ameliorated? And what about all those unique Madagascan plants, animals and forests in the area? At Fort Dauphin I met the neatly dressed and softly spoken Ny Fanja Rakotomalala, QMM's regional director. A graduate of Tananarive University and the Paris School of Mining, he is part of an impressive team put together by QMM for the feasibility study. Like most of the team, Ny Fanja is Malgache and, like Ny Fanja, many of the team are local graduates.
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