Land management

Kenmare understands that we are the temporary custodians of the land we mine and where our operations are located. We have an accountability to minimise the impact on land, protect biodiversity and rehabilitate disturbed areas as effectively and efficiently as possible.

Kenmare recognises the importance of the land to local communities for subsistence farming and more broadly some key biodiversity aspects that are endemic to Mozambique.

Land Management Strategy

Kenmare's Land Management Strategy guides our activities in four key areas:

• Mine Rehabilitation
• Food Security
• Biodiversity Management
• External Engagement

Progressive rehabilitation

Kenmare is committed to rehabilitating mined land as soon as available and the process of minerals sands mining lends itself to progressive rehabilitation.

Part of the annual mine planning process includes setting an annual rehabilitation targets. In 2021, we rehabilitated 198 ha of land, close to our target of 200 ha. This included the planting of indigenous trees, which supports biodiversity restoration and 22 ha of 52,000 casuarina trees – a future potential commercial forestry crop.

Restoration and conseravation

During 2021, Kenmare continued its work in partnership with the National Conservation Agency (ANAC) and the National Agrarian Research Institute (IIAM) to establish the Icuria Forest as a Conservation Area for Sustainable Use. In addition, we continued our work to restore and conserve the Icuria forest adjacent to our operations in Mulimuni. Kenmare is a member and the private sector representative on the Primeiras and Segundas Archipelagos Protected Area Management Committee, which is working to establish the Icuria forest as a Community Conservation Area. Work is ongoing to:
• Demarcate the natural limits of the Mulimuli Icuria forest, in Namalope
• Promote natural regeneration – as part of this, Kenmare’s rehabilitation team planted Icuria saplings
• Assess the status quo of the Icuria forest and collect seeds for propagation
• Assess the ecological status of the Icuria dunensis forest. Kenmare sponsored a survey by Mozambique’s Eduardo Mondlane University to research this.

Supporting local farmers

In 2021, 700 farmers participated in the CA project. Farmers using CA methods benefitted from yields 49% greater than those using traditional techniques. The National Association for Rural Extension (AENA) was contracted to facilitate this project and continued to train the farmers by splitting their fields in two, with one side being farmed using CA techniques and the other side with traditional farming techniques. KMAD’s agriculture projects enable local farmers to access technical assistance, participate in training on seed production and product marketing, and connect with seed suppliers. As part of this programme, some farmers have also participated in the cassava “pass it on” scheme.

Cassava is the staple food of northern Mozambique and a new variety that is resistant to disease is imperative to the security of supply. Under this scheme, farmers receive enough disease-resistant cassava to grow their own crops, and their surpluses are passed on to another farm as feedstock. Replication of this process will see wide distribution of the new cassava variety. Farmers are also being encouraged to diversify their farms to include more nutritious food crops such as beans, groundnuts and fruits. The CA approach also supports native biodiversity and takes pressure off the need to clear land for farming by making the land more productive