THE VERDICT | Who Kept their Word. Who Did not – Volume 18

Every week, The Verdict tests one question: did the promise match the delivery? This week we look at two promises in two countries. One was kept after a quarter of a century. The other, made barely two years ago, has left a village still waiting for the jobs, school and clinic it was told to expect.

COMMENDED: Geita Gold Mining Limited (Tanzania)

Geita Gold Mining Limited (GGML) is the operating company of the Geita Gold Mine, wholly owned by AngloGold Ashanti. This week it earns a commendation for finally completing compensation to residents of Nyakabale and Nyamalembo, in Geita.

The timeline

• Since around 2000: residents say land earmarked for mining left them unable to develop or use it economically while they waited for compensation.
• August 2025: Tanzania’s Ministry of Minerals described the dispute as lasting more than 26 years and announced the start of compensation after GGML agreed to pay affected residents.
• By March 2026: GGML projected compensation payments of about Sh70 billion, subject to valuation, verification and contractual procedures. Geita Regional Commissioner Martine Shigela directed that due diligence come first, that all payments go strictly through bank accounts, and that payments to all beneficiaries should have commenced by 15 March 2026.
• 7 October 2026: Thobias Mabula, leader of the residents’ committee, Kamati ya Vigingi, told Minerals Minister Anthony Mavunde that residents had received their compensation. The group now wants help securing a mining licence of its own.

Why it earns the commendation

Three features make this more than a press-release promise. The recipients themselves have confirmed payment. The payments were routed through bank accounts after a due diligence process, which reduces the leakage and middlemen that often swallow community money. And the commitment carried a figure and a date, so it could be checked.

What tempers it

We are commending delivery, not speed. A 26-year wait is a long time, and the settlement came with government intervention. The Sh70 billion figure was a projection, and we have not seen a final audited total of what was paid. GGML is a Tier 1 asset for its parent according to AngloGold Ashanti’s own filings, which makes the length of the delay harder to explain. We also did not find a named assurance framework covering this specific compensation programme, which is our usual test, so this commendation rests on recipient confirmation and regulatory oversight rather than independent verification.

What would earn a full endorsement: publication of the final amount paid, the number of beneficiaries, and an independent verification of the payments.

CALLED OUT: Kaduna Mining Development Company and Ming Xin Mineral Separation Nigeria Ltd (Nigeria)

The call-out is institutional. It concerns a joint venture, and a gap between what was promised at inauguration and what the host community says it has seen.

The timeline

• 31 March 2024: Kaduna State Government and Ming Xin sign a joint venture agreement with a 30:70 equity split.
• May 2024: the lithium processing plant at Kangimi is inaugurated. The state government reports an initial investment of $20 million, an initial capacity of 1,500 metric tonnes a day, and over 3,000 jobs across the Kuriga mining site and the Kangimi plant. It adds that Ming Xin plans a tile-making facility to create another 500 jobs.
• KMDC’s own account: its managing director, Shuaibu Bello, said in a video statement that the plant would create 1,500 direct and 5,000 indirect jobs.
• 2025: reporting by Climate Home, carried by the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, found the plant only partially operational. Kangimi village head Danjuma Husseini said Ming Xin made verbal commitments on jobs for local people, a renovated school, a health facility and a tarred road, and that none had begun. Resident Gambo Abdul said the promises were not kept.
• 26 September 2026: CSR Reporters listed the matter among its Top 5 unresolved host-community grievances, citing the same reporting.

The gap between the numbers

The promises were never consistent. The state government spoke of over 3,000 jobs. KMDC’s managing director spoke of 6,500 (1,500 direct and 5,000 indirect). Without a published breakdown, no community can hold anyone to a number.

Who owed what

At the inauguration, the governor’s speech said KMDC would handle community engagement, security issues and the provision of land, while Ming Xin would run the project. That places the duty to deliver and document community commitments with the state-owned partner. Yet BHRRC reported that KMDC did not comment, and that a KMDC aide said a committee was being set up to oversee community benefits without spelling out what the Kangimi agreement contains.

The company’s side

Fairness requires the response on record. Through the Chinese Embassy in Abuja, Ming Xin said it holds valid mining licences and community agreements, has consistently contributed to local communities, created employment and protected the local environment. That response has not been matched by any published agreement, job count or list of projects that the community, or we, can check.

A note on our evidence: the most recent independent reporting we found dates from 2025, so the current position on the ground may differ. KMDC and Ming Xin are invited to respond with documents. If the commitments have been met, we will say so.

What would resolve this: publication of the community agreement; a verified count of local jobs by category; the composition and timetable of the community benefits committee; and independent monitoring of the school, clinic and road commitments.

What the two cases tell us

In Geita, the promise was kept after 26 years, and what made it credible at the end was a due diligence step, bank payments and a date. In Kaduna, the promise is two years old and the public record contains no agreement to test it against.

The lesson for any company or government partner is the same: community commitments that are not written down, published and traceable become promises that only the community remembers.

The Verdict

Commended: Geita Gold Mining Limited, for completing long-overdue compensation, with the caveat that the final figures still need to be published and verified.

Called out: Kaduna Mining Development Company and Ming Xin Mineral Separation Nigeria Ltd, for community commitments that the host community says have not been met, and for the absence of a published agreement.