During the meetings in January 2019, we reassured that we are open to any further request, which community will address us and if our company has the possibility to solve, we will contribute to any reasonable social economic project presented by the community.
Besides the financial contribution, which we made at the moment of the signing of the contract, we have also distributed food (livestock, sugar, wheat, oil, dates, water etc.) and financial assistance to the community. We are permanently in keen contact with the community and in case of necessity, we are trying to react with solutions.
On some occasions, we have also assisted the community to implement different technical works, which was requested by Omda Hamad (leader of the tribe). For example, we have provided Dozer and Loader, to construct some protection walls and tranches, which should protect their agricultural lands from flooding.
We have also expressed our willingness to support the community in case of medical issues. In 2019 we financed the flight of Omda Hamad, who accompanied by his relative travelled to Egypt for a treatment.
Above this, during the consultation in Durdeb municipality, we have agreed that we will have a medical point in our mining site where the community member can get medical services (drugs, injections or prescription) by a medical practitioner, which will be 24/7 available at site. We also plan to acquire ambulances, which will also provide assistance to the community members in case of emergency, especially those who spend their day in the deserts. Furthermore, as many of the community members are travelling from Durdeb to Wadi Ushar market, our Mining site will be on their half way, where they can get rest and food.
Another very important program, which we intend to implement, is the involvement of the community members in our mining project as employees, interns or trainees, which will ensure the possibility to acquire a profession in one of the most important industries of Sudan, mining sector, and become competitive in the labor market.
In almost all our international projects, we also invest in renovation of community buildings such as municipal building, school, construction of roads and bridges, depending on the capacity of the project and the revenues. During the production phase when we will also have our drilling machine and specialists (hydrogeologists), we can drill water wails in case of potential targets rich with underground water.
Those and other projects have been discussed in the community consultation in 2019 and during other meetings and telephone calls with tribe leaders.
In the production phase, our company will punctually and transparently pay the Corporate Social Responsibility Tax, which is 2% (according to SMRC) from our DM’s Profit. Nevertheless, as mentioned above, DM will be actively involved in the development of the surrounding communities and the Red Sea State implementing various socio-economic development projects depending on the production and sales volumes.