Manganese mine in Chiatura (Luka Pertaia/OC Media)
Mining company Georgian Manganese has expressed concern at the Ministry of Environment’s decision to appoint a ‘special manager’ to the company. They claim that because of the state-appointed manager’s lack of competence, their operations have been ‘paralysed’.
The ministry appointed the special manager on 11 May for a period of three years, after a court ruled that the company has created ‘extremely severe ecological conditions’ in Chiatura, an industrial town in central Georgia.
Georgian Manganese operates seven mines in Chiatura, and is a major producer of manganese.
They were fined ₾200 million ($82 million) in 2016 for causing environmental damage in Chiatura, in one of the most notorious cases of its kind in the country’s history.
The Ministry of Environment has said that it appointed the special manager as the company had continued to violate environmental legislation.
‘The company did not eliminate the contamination and degradation of the river and soil, but rather worsened the situation, creating an ecological catastrophe’, the ministry said.
Nikoloz Chikovani was appointed as manager of the company and will be responsible for improving the ecological situation in the town.
‘I am not planning to fire anyone, we will think of a plan with my team to resolve the problems that I was appointed for’, Chikovani said on 12 May.
Georgian Manganese is a subsidiary ofFlorida-based Georgia-American Alloys, which is registered in Luxembourg. Georgia-American Alloys also owns a ferroalloyplantin Zestaponi, — Georgia’s largest silicomanganese processing plant — and Vartsikhe, a nearby hydroelectric facility that partly powers factories in Zestaponi and Chiatura.
Georgia-American Alloys has said that they are ready to cooperate with the manager to avoid ‘complete paralysis’ of the company.
The company employs more than 3,000 people in Chiatura, making mining vital for the town’s economy.
The company has also faced repeated accusations of employing exploitative labour practices, which labour rights groups allege have led to injuries and death. The company has denied any violations of the law.
In 2021, Vera Kupatadze was one of eight people who spent a month on hunger strike, her lips sewn shut, to demand compensation from Georgian Manganese for damage to her property.
Today, Vera is one of dozens of Shukrutians who are demanding action and clarity from the company, which operates the mines in Chiatura, on the fate of their houses and the entire village.
[Read more: Mine entrance blocked near Shukruti in renewed protest against Georgian Manganese]
During the 2021 protests,
Residents of a village near the Georgian mining town of Chiatura have blocked access to a mine running under their village, to demand adequate compensation for the destruction of their village.
Residents of Shukruti, in western Georgia, set up a tent outside the mine entrance on Wednesday, the latest in a series of protests against mining company Georgian Manganese.
The land in and around Shukruti began to collapse in 2019, with Georgian Manganese initially denying any connection to the mine
A strike by manganese miners in the central Georgian town of Chiatura has come to an end after 18 days, with the mining company agreeing to key demands from the workers.
On Saturday, mining firm Georgian Manganese agreed to reverse new ore quotas that miners had described as ‘inhuman’. They also agreed to honour their contractual obligation to increase salaries by 12%, in line with inflation.
The miners went on strike after the company announced that workers would have to mine up to 40% more
Manganese miners from the central Georgian town of Chiatura have for weeks been on strike over their working conditions. But since a portion of the strikers moved their protest to the capital Tbilisi, far-right figures have been seen attempting to ingratiate themselves into the protests, leaving the miners unsure who to trust.
When several dozen striking miners and their supporters arrived in Tbilisi on 19 June, their intention was to bring wider attention to their cause. And the strike resona
Mining company Georgian Manganese has expressed concern at the Ministry of Environment’s decision to appoint a ‘special manager’ to the company. They claim that because of the state-appointed manager’s lack of competence, their operations have been ‘paralysed’. 
