Canadian mining company denies allegation after rights groups say workers confined to sites in Congo

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The human-rights groups said they were troubled by the lockdown policies at some sites, where Congolese workers were ‘not given a choice’ about the 24-hour confinement ‘without fear of losing their jobs or other forms of reprisal’

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The Democratic Republic of the Congo is the world’s top producer of cobalt and Africa’s biggest producer of copper. Many cobalt and copper mining companies announced a lockdown of their mine sites in March because of the novel coronavirus, which has infected at least 4,515 people and killed 98 in the Central African country.

Ivanhoe spokesman Matthew Keevil, responding to questions from The Globe and Mail, said the lockdown rules at the mine site were agreed to by the unions. All workers who were quarantined were given an additional allowance, he said in an e-mail Friday.Story continues below advertisement In an earlier news release, Ivanhoe said the mine responded to the pandemic by creating 10 intensive-care units with ventilators, along with 20 high-care units and a quarantine facility for as many as 60 people.

Workers were not given a “free or fair choice,” Ms. Woudenberg said. She quoted one worker at Kamoa-Kakula, interviewed by RAID, as saying the company threatened to cut off wages for workers who refused to follow the 24-hour confinement rules, which lasted from March 27 to May 29.“We felt obligated to stay for fear of losing our jobs,” the worker said.

 

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