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Gambia News : Australian firm accused of mining 'rip-off'

The Gambian Government has accused Australian mining firm Carnegie Minerals of dishonesty, after cancelling its licence in the west African country this week.

Gambia Foreign Minister Crispin Grey-Johnson told a news conference that the Government had discovered that the mining company was not declaring all the sand minerals it was extracting and exporting from Gambia.

He said investigations show that Carnegie had exported more than 20,000 tons of sand minerals with "heavy concentration of uranium" to Australia and China, yet it had allegedly declared exports for zircon, silicon and ilmenite only.

"It is a rip-off," said Mr Grey-Johnson.

"We gave them a licence to mine for zircon, silicon and ilmenite. And they declared to us that they were only mining and exporting these three minerals," he said.

Gambia's President Yahya Jammeh early this week revoked Carnegie's mining licence after he had ordered the firm, which also works mineral sands in neighbouring Senegal, to make public the quantities and kinds of minerals it was mining.

Carnegie officials could not immediately be reached for comment, but a statement the company issued early in the week said the mining firm "is continuing to focus its efforts on its other existing and emerging operations".

British senior official with Carnegie in Gambia, Charles Northfield, who was arrested on Tuesday as part of ongoing investigations, is still in custody and has not been charged yet.

Under the country's regulations a suspect can be held for a maximum of 48 hours during which charges should be preferred or the individual is freed.

British Ambassador to Gambia Phil Sinkinson expressed concern over the continued detention of the Carnegie official, whom sources close to the firm said is a mining engineer, beyond the stipulated time.

"For our part, we have turned the matter to the police and investigations are underway. Charles Northfield ... is in the best position to help the police with their inquiries," said the foreign minister.