"Mining Giant ERG Ignored UK Government on Human Rights in DR Congo", 23 Apr 2018

A British government assessment...has found Kazakh mining giant, Eurasian Resources Group (ERG, formerly ENRC), flouted the rights of several thousand people living on its cobalt and copper concession in the Democratic Republic of Congo, depriving them of clean water and health care.  The assessment was published by officials at the UK National Contact Point (NCP)...Both villages are on one of ERG’s concessions in Lualaba Province, formerly Katanga...“ERG seems to view the OECD Guidelines and the UK government’s recommendations on its human rights impact with contempt,” said Anneke Van Woudenberg, Executive Director at RAID...Lack of reliable access to clean water was one of the main issues raised in the complaint.  The company was aware that water supplies for the villages had been contaminated by previous mining activities...The new assessment follows an earlier 2016 report in which the UK government found ERG’s predecessor, ENRC, had failed to address human rights impacts at mine sites under the control of its subsidiaries in Congo, had not engaged effectively with local communities and had not adequately addressed community’s right to safe drinking water.  It set out four recommendations the company should adopt and said the UK government would assess implementation in February 2017...RAID and ACIDH reported that ERG had taken few steps to remedy the situation in the villages.  The NCP noted in its assessment that ERG had only started to act on the recommendations several months after the initial deadline had expired...