Handicrafts produced by Kanto, a cooperative in Ambinanibe, Fort Dauphin

QMM Communities

QMM communities

At QMM, partnership with the local community is important to us, and we aim to work in ways that deliver sustained value for both our business and our host communities.

For example, QMM provides funding for equipment and marketing as well as business development training to a local honey co-operative. This support helps producers to harvest and sell more than 4,800 litres of honey from 500 beehives in the remote region of Ampasy Nahampoana.

QMM also works with the Centre d’Affaires Régional Anosy (CARA). Established in 2012 to support local businesses, CARA is a partnership between QMM, the Integrated Pole of Growth project, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Fort Dauphin and the Association for the Promotion of Entrepreneurship. Its work includes providing finance, marketing and training to micro, small and medium-sized businesses and has, since inception, trained more than 4,500 people and supported around 200 businesses.

Cultural heritage

We work with the Malagasy people and with archaeologists to survey and map sites and artefacts of cultural significance. Malagasy culture assigns special status to sites including:

  • Kibory - Tombs which Malagasy people consider the place where ancestors live
  • Orimbato - Stone slabs near the paths beside a tomb
  • Fisorogna - Places of sacrifice
  • Doany - Places of worship

Land agreements

QMM was the first mining company in Madagascar to recognise the land rights of traditional land users. In 2016, we signed an agreement with the government of Madagascar and the Mandena communities on which the mining concession sits, which set up a framework to provide a legal basis for the joint rights of each party within the mining concession.

As part of its mining license agreement, QMM committed to a biodiversity conservation programme that included the identification and management of protected areas and offset areas. These areas are designed to ensure gains in natural forest cover, preserve priority species and ensure that the loss of biodiversity in mining areas is compensated for.

QMM works in partnership with organisations to manage these sites, for example with Asity, a Malagasy NGO, Birdlife International and Missouri Botanical Garden (MBG), who have a long history of conservation work in Madagascar. 

Supporting communities in Madagascar

Supporting communities in Madagascar

Turning a building into a treatment centre

At QMM, our operation in the Anosy region of Madagascar, we have upgraded a building, turning it into a dedicated treatment centre that can receive up to 108 patients, and treat 60 people – including up to 32 needing intensive care. We have also donated an ambulance and two 4x4 vehicles, so that medical teams can more easily reach people where and when they need them, especially in more remote areas.

Sourcing locally

Supporting the sustainable development of the local economy through partnering with local businesses is a key part of the procurement approach at QMM. The procurement procedures ensure local suppliers are considered at every stage of the process. This approach is outlined in the RTP Africa Preferential Procurement Policy document.

 

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QMM from the air

QIT Madagascar Minerals

Our operation near Fort Dauphin in the Anosy region of south-eastern Madagascar produces ilmenite, which is a major source of titanium dioxide
Photo of employee talking to the chief in the Mafindou community near Beyla, Guinea

Communities

We know our operations can have far-reaching impacts on society
Photos from Yinjaa-Barni Art, Roebourne

Cultural Heritage

Cultural heritage is the aspects of a community's past and present that it considers valuable and wants to pass on to future generations