Independent completion audit published for the Fatala northern pit resettlement

Quintel has published the independent completion audit of the resettlement action plan for the northern pit at its Fatala bauxite operation in Guinea. The audit was carried out by an external social performance consultancy appointed by, and reporting to, the board’s Sustainability and Safety Committee rather than to site management.

The resettlement moved 214 households between 2023 and 2025. Each household received replacement housing with secure documented title, replacement agricultural land of equal or better productive capacity, compensation at full replacement value plus a 20% disturbance allowance, and transitional income support for 24 months.

The audit assessed livelihood restoration against the household baseline surveys conducted before any land was taken. It found 205 households, or 96%, at or above their baseline. Nine households are below baseline; in seven cases the audit attributes this to the loss of income from off-farm activities that were not fully captured in the original baseline, and in two cases to household circumstances unrelated to the resettlement.

All nine households have entered a remediation process with agreed measures, named accountable managers and quarterly published progress against milestones. The audit will be repeated on the same households in 2027.

The audit makes four recommendations, all accepted in full: extend baseline surveys to capture informal and seasonal income more completely; separate the grievance mechanism from the compensation negotiation team; increase the frequency of post-move monitoring from annual to six-monthly for the first three years; and publish the monitoring data at village level rather than only in aggregate.

“Resettlement is the single most intrusive thing a mining company does to people who did not ask for a mine,” said Dr Amina Chérif, Chief Sustainability Officer. “A 96% result is not a pass mark. Nine families are worse off than they were and that is the number we are managing.”