Imider Silver Mine, Morocco

[Doroteja Demšar, 17 Morocco 30 March 2017 at 19:50 Post count: 0]

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Imider is the biggest mine on the African continent, and 7th largest producer of silver in the world. It is also home to a 5-year long fight (preceded by decades of mobilizations), as a group of protesters has been living on Mount Alebban, about 300km east of Marrakesh, since August 2011.

In 2004, SMI(The mine is run by Societe Metallurgique d’Imider ) dug an illegal well in the mountains, which had a dramatic impact on water access for the local Amazigh population, pumping the aquifer dry.

Since then, those in the protest camp, mainly subsistence farmers and migrant workers, have kept shut the valve to one of the mine’s biggest wells, to stop the use of the village’s groundwater. Impacts from the mine include chemical pollution, new diseases such as cancer, decreased in agricultural production.

Imider residents – who are mostly ethnic Amazighs – say the mine has drained their water reserves for decades and devastated their agricultural community, using 1,555 cubic metres of water per day, 12 times the village’s daily consumption. Moha Taouja, a local activist said, “the water tank that provides water to the silver mine company takes 24 liters every second. This overuse of water has influenced the traditional irrigation process, resulting in having a number of dry wells.”

The mine also produces dangerous toxic materials such as mercury, zinc and cyanide, which affects agricultural produce. Elders in the community say the water became polluted with chemicals used by the mine, and the elders tell the young how crops from fig and olive trees have diminished over the years. Some believe the mine is contributing to cancers now evident among villagers and which they say were not seen before .

People who live there have organized many collective marches and gathered in great numbers on the hilltop to demonstrate their willingness to continue the struggle and to come together as a community.

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