Hearts of gold

Nestled in the mountains, Lannigou village in Zhenfeng county in southwest China's Guizhou province is almost cut off from the outside world save for a rugged and muddy road.

Yet the remote village is quite famous in China and even in the world's gold mining circles because it's the site of China's second largest gold mine, Jinfeng Mine.

The state of the rugged road was much worse before 2002 when Sino Gold, an Australian gold producer came in and helped improve it.

The arrival of Sino Gold, one of largest investors in China's mining industry, also brought tap water to the locals and some job opportunities.

"They help local villages pave roads and installed tap water," says Chen Changying, a 40-year-old woman, a Buyi ethnic minority, in Lannigou village. "But more importantly they brought us jobs," she says. Chen worked for Sino Gold for two years cooking for Australian workers at the mine.

The site of Jinfeng Mine, which also covers Niluo and Jinshan villages, is home to 775 households and 3,770 villagers, 80 percent of whom are Buyi ethnic minority. It is a region that is poor even by the standards of rural China.

Sino Gold has so far poured a total of 44 million yuan into various development projects, such as road paving in the local community since it came in 2002.

And its operations have also injected some vitality into local economies by hiring local farmers and buying homegrown produce.

The per capita income in the three villages has increased from 532 yuan in 2002 to 2,050 yuan in 2007, but is still below the national average of 4.140 yuan.

But with some of their precious, tiny farm plots purchased by Sino Gold there are new problems about how those villagers will continue to live, the company says.

Although Sino Gold has given farmers compensation for the land it purchased, the company says it cannot fully meet the local community's expectations about employment opportunities at the mine. That has some relocated villagers facing difficult circumstances.

To aid them, the Sydney and Hong Kong-listed company set up a Community Development Department in October. It's an initiative aimed at helping the three villages to realize their social, economic and environmental development in a sustainable manner.

"We are a stakeholder in every community in which we operate and we hope local businesses can develop in a sustainable manner into the future," says Jake Klein, CEO of Sino Gold.

The community program, believed to be the first of its kind in China, is aiming to find "real and sustainable change to living standards in those villages and explore an effective model of sustainable development for China mining communities," Klein says.

The department, staffed with four officials, all of them former NGO workers, will work closely with government agencies, third-party research institutions and the local communities themselves to begin community programs.

Sino Gold has contracted with community-based Conservation and Development Research Center of Guizhou Normal University to provide consulting services and help devise development programs.

The center has already undertaken several socio-economic research projects and assessments of the local community, says Professor Ren Xiaodong, the director.

According to the plan, Sino Gold will invest more than 2.55 million yuan over the next three years in community projects for its first phase. And the local government will provide accompanying financial and services supports to supplement the program.

The three-phase and 10-year program will cover a wide range of issues such as education, health, sanitation and environment.

And a large part of it will devote to capacity building projects.

"First we give them (villagers) fish, and then teach them how to fish," says Liang Jianjun, a program officer with the Community Development Department, citing a well-known proverb about improving one's lot in life.

"Eventually we hope the villagers can fish on their own, that's our objective," Liang says. "We hope the local villagers will be better off when we leave the mine and can lead a sustainable and prosperous life then," the CEO Klein says.

(China Daily 12/22/2008 page8)