▲Chiatura miners and other residents demonstrating in the town center. Photo: screengrab from Facebook live
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Miners and local residents in the central Georgian town of Chiatura are holding protests against Georgian Manganese, the company operating mines in the region. They are accusing the company of not fulfilling its obligations towards them and demand that the state take over the mines and processing.
The protests against Georgian Manganese began on 28 February in the centre of Chiatura, near its town hall. Protesters there have repeatedly demanded a meeting with a government representative.
This is the latest in a series of protests and strikes against Georgian Manganese, which residents of towns and villages in the Chiatura region have consistently accused of damaging their homes through its mining operations and of labour violations.
In October 2024, Georgian Manganese, citing financial crisis, announced that it was halting the operation of manganese mines in Chiatura and the Zestaponi Ferroalloy Plant until 1 March 2025. Miners would still receive 60% of their salaries according to the announcement.
However, work has only resumed at the Zestaponi Ferroalloy Plant, and Chiatura’s miners claimed they have yet to receive their February wages.
Protesting miner Davit Chinchaladze told OC Media that the miners no longer have demands for the company, and that they instead want it to leave the municipality altogether, and for the state to take over the mines and processing ‘in compliance with regulations and standards’.
‘Despite holding a license, the company has failed to meet the needs of its employees and the local population’, Chinchaladze said.
According to Georgian Manganese, Chiatura is home to a dozen of mines, with much of the manganese extracted from the region being sent to the Zestaponi Ferroalloy Plant for further processing.
In addition to the company’s withdrawal from Chiatura, Chinchaladze said that demands include ensuring that locals benefit more from manganese extraction through the creation of a fund for children living in the municipality and using production revenue to provide free municipal transport in the municipality.
They also demand that environmental issues caused by manganese mining be addressed.
In October 2024, when Georgian Manganese announced the suspension of mining operations and manganese processing, the company cited a sharp drop in silicomanganese prices in the world market, a ‘reduction in demand’ over the past two years, and complicated circumstances as the primary reasons behind the halt of work.
The company also said that a ‘radical protest’ being held by the residents of Chiatura and the picketing of seven out of 12 mines in the municipality led to a 70% shortfall in manganese extraction.
Georgian Manganese was referring to the protest held by the residents of the Chiatura village of Shukruti who later also demonstrated in front of the parliament building inTbilisi. At the time, several of the Shukrutians went on hunger strikes in demand of adequate compensation from Georgian Manganese for the destruction of their homes caused by mining operations beneath the village.
The company claimed that the Shukruti protests triggered a ‘financial crisis’ which ‘completely halted’ industrial operations in Chiatura.
However, those involved in the protest questioned the company’s claims of a financial crisis, pointing out that it managed to restart operations at the Zestaponi plant.
They also alleged that, despite halting mining operations in November 2024, Georgian Manganese continued extracting manganese in Chiatura — not from underground mines, but through open-pit mining, which they claimed has now doubled in scale.
‘This automatically means the destruction and damage of the city and villages’ infrastructure. The mines had their own specifics and were far less harmful’, Chinchaladze added.
According to Chinchaladze, the company will not be able to take ‘even a gramme of manganese’ out of Chiatura until the protesters’ demands are met. He added that the protesters have set up ‘block posts’ operating around the clock to prevent any cargo from leaving the municipality.
Chinchiladze also dismissed the company’s claims that the mines were being picketed by local residents, saying it was ‘Georgian Manganese’s problem, not the miners’. He added that the company failed to properly address the demands of Shukruti’s residents.
Neither the company nor the Ministry of Health have responded to the demands of Chiatura’s miners. Georgian Manganese told OC Media that they would issue a statement by the end of the week.
On Sunday, in a report aired on pro-government TV Rustavi 2, Georgian Manganese’s representatives once again claimed that there was an ongoing financial crisis as a result of the protest, and that the ‘current situation further complicates the company’s ability to secure financing from the financial sector to pay salaries’.
‘We understand and are concerned about the situation of Chiatura’s miners, and a decision on further operations should ultimately be made through an agreement’, said Temur Khonelia, a representative of Georgian Manganese’s contractor, the Chiatura Management Company.
Khonelia also claimed that despite the ‘crisis’, the company have paid ₾82.6 million ($23 million) in wages ‘since the beginning of 2024’.
Georgian Manganese is the largest mining and ferroalloy manufacturing company in Georgia, with up to 6,000 employees, according to RFE/RL. It owns the sole licence to operate mines in the Chiatura region.
Mikheil joined OC Media after a long career as a journalist at Netgazeti, focusing on politics, human rights and the wider region. He has an academic background in Arabic Studies and maintains a strong interest in Arabic language, Egyptian cinema, and the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings.
The Zestaponi Ferroalloy Plant and all manganese mines in Chiatura, both owned by the mining company Georgian Manganese, have temporarily stopped work until 1 March 2025.
On Thursday, Georgian Manganese published a statement saying that until 1 March, a temporary management regime would operate at the Zestaponi Ferroalloy Plant.
The plant is Georgia’s largest silicomanganese processing plant.
Georgian Manganese is the largest mining and ferroalloy manufacturing company in Georgia, where
Residents of Shukruti protesting against Georgian Manganese have ended their protest in Tbilisi after two weeks of unsuccessful negotiations.
The protesters had demanded an assessment by the National Forensics Bureau of their property, as well as to receive adequate compensation from the company for the destruction of their homes during mining operations under the village in Chiatura, western Georgia.
One of the protesters, Tamuna Kupatadze, told OC Media that they could not agree with th
Residents of the village of Shukruti who have been protesting the destruction of their village outside the Georgian parliament have agreed to end their hunger strike after 43 days, to begin negotiations with the mining company.
The Chiatura Management Company, which runs the mines in and around the central Georgian town of Chiatura, agreed to begin negotiations with the protesters after the government intervened.
On Sunday, Rati Ionatamashvili, an MP from the ruling Georgian Dream party, me
The residents of Shukruti, a village in Georgia’s western Chiatura region, have been protesting mining under their village carried out by Georgian Manganese for years. In September, they relocated their protest to Georgia’s Parliament in Tbilisi, demanding that the government intervene in their dispute with the mining company.
Those protesting around the clock in front of parliament are constantly exposed to the elements as the weather grows colder, with at least six of th
