The General Manager of Pan African Minerals (PAM) has recently announced that the Burkina Faso transitional government has lifted the suspension of the company’s manganese export license, which was imposed in March.
Since the assumption of power in October 2014, the transitional government has been reviewing some of the mining contracts granted by the previous government, saying exploration permits had been awarded in an opaque manner.
It had suspended PAM-Burkina’s license to export manganese from its mine at Tambao in the northeast of the country, saying the company had not respected the terms of its mining permit, issued in May 2014, which included paving a road and constructing a railroad to the mine.
The permit is valid for 20 years for annual production of 3 million tonnes of manganese, which is used as a component to keep steel from rusting. Timis Corporation, which controls PAM, said it would be the world’s biggest manganese mine.
Burkina Faso will have a new government after the president-elect is sworn in on Dec. 29 following polls last month