[Summary translation prepared by Business & Human Rights Resource Centre]

From antimony and from suma: why shift workers protest at a Yakutian construction site, 7 June 2022
A fire in a dormitory provoked a conflict between workers and GeoProMining, a company owned by billionaire Trotsenko.

At the end of May, a fire in Yakutia destroyed the dormitories where construction workers from the mini-refinery at the Sentachan gold and antimony deposit lived. Together with the dormitory, some shift workers' personal belongings and documents were burnt. The employer, Zvezda JSC (part of the transnational holding GeoProMining), has started paying compensation to the victims and claims to be supporting them in every way possible. However, some employees say that the company does not fully compensate for the damage and even intimidates the disgruntled, and some employees were allegedly forced to resign...

The Ministry of Industry and Geology of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) later reported that at the time of the fire, 103 construction workers from the Zvezda mining company's enrichment plant were on the site. Fortunately, there were no fatalities or burns. The agency added that after the incident, a census of the burnt property of the employees at the site was started, and the employer promised to "pay compensation in full"...

Meanwhile, one of the shift workers, who wished to remain anonymous, told NEWS.ru through a relative that those of his employees who wrote about the situation on social networks "were forced to quit and go home at their own expense". In addition, he said, the employer first promised to pay compensation in full and then refused to do so.