Local opposition Tension between Base Resources and the local communities has been building over a number of years. Several public demonstrations against the project have taken place. After one demonstration, in July 2018, the Mayor of Ankilimalinike gave orders to arrest Theo Rakotovao, President of the MA.ZO.TO. Association which gathers the representatives of the opposing communities, if he were to pass the town again. The conflict seriously escalated in April 2019, when a group of 40 local people set fire to an exploration camp at the mine site. Nine people were detained without trial for several weeks. They were initially charged with arson but all of them were convicted on the unique charge of gathering without authorization, and released with a 6-month suspended sentence after their trial on 13 June 2019. 

Displacement and livelihoods Local people have raised several issues with the process of clearing land for the project. In Madagascar, foreign-owned companies are not allowed to own land; the company must lease it from the government. Using the legal mechanism of Public Utility Declaration, the Malagasy government is currently in the process of taking possession of land for the project. Officially, only twenty households that live on the main mining deposit itself need to be relocated, however, the economic displacement by the project will have destructive impacts on the livelihoods of thousands of people who farm and raise livestock on that land.

Base Resources says it will compensate for the loss of natural resources utilization. However, the process of compensation is complex; under Malagasy law, occupants without formal landownership documents in theory still have property rights but in practice these rights are not always respected. Considering that many of the local people don’t have formal deeds, this could mean that they may be evicted  from their land and may miss out on compensation. Also, the road the company plans to build will be exclusively for use by company vehicles and will cut through pastoral land. The road will be fenced on both sides and will be patrolled, making it difficult for people to cross the road. If no proper crossing points can be built, farmers will not be able to have access to the land they work on.   

Impact on sacred sites The project will involve the setting up of a mineral port terminal on Andaboy Beach, which many local people consider sacred. It is the site of spiritual rites and a place where large crowds gather on holidays. Local fishers use it as a base of operations. In addition, there are 91 tombs of different ethnic groups on the land designated for the project which would have to be relocated. Base Resources promised to compensate the families for the relocation but a portion of these funds was allegedly paid to consultants rather than affected families and other families refused the relocation or removal of the tombs.          

Impacts on Indigenous Peoples The Base Toliara project will have destructive impacts on the Mikea Forest, which is home to the Mikea Indigenous People. The Mikea people have an identity strongly associated with the forest and they express pride in expert knowledge and the ability to use forest resources. Since the colonial period, the forest gives them the ability to escape the discrimination and harassment they often experience outside the forest, and to get by without having to engage in often exploitative wage employment. In 2007, protection for the Mikea forest was arranged in the Mikea Forest Protected Area Agreement, and in 2009, the Mikea Forest National Park was formally established. However, during the exploration phase of the Toliara mining project, the boundaries of the protected areas of the forest were redrawn several times in order to accommodate the mining leases for this project. Therefore, while the Mikea Forest is under the protection of the Madagascar National Parks authority, the quasi-private buffer zone parts of this forest will be left to self-regulation by the mining company in terms of environmental and social impacts, and negotiation over land rights with the affected local people once the lease to the company will be concluded. Mobility and diversification are very important strategies for the livelihoods of the Mikea people, and these are threatened by these changes in the modalities for the conservation of the forest.

Health risks The draft Environmental and Social Impact Assessment for the Toliara project produced by World Titanium Resources in 2013 already mentions radiation as a possible impact associated with the mining site. 

A 2014 study by chemists from the University of Antananarivo found that the Toliara mining site contains very high levels of uranium and thorium, which are radioactive metals acting notably through the contamination of water and/or the inhalation of ambient dust, such that the mining project workers as well as the people living around the mine are at risk of serious illnesses and health problems that could also affect their offspring. According to the study, “serious radioprotection measures” will be required to ensure the safety of the community. Base Resources' pre-feasibility study for the Ranobe site, published in March 2019, confirms that the zircon in the mining site contains elevated levels of uranium and thorium. The levels are even above industry norm which prevents the company to export the products to the United States and Japan. 

In April 2019, Professor Stephan Narison had again alerted the authorities and the general public in the press about the danger of radioactivity for the population and the environment caused by the exploitation of ilmenite in Ranobe.

Impacts on local eco systems and biodiversity The Base Toliara mining project represents a major threat to the natural heritage of Madagascar as the implementation of this project is expected to clear about 455 hectares of natural vegetation, including hundreds of baobab and tamarind trees that are endemic to the region.

Mineral sands mining is highly destructive to local ecology. Deposits often sit below areas with plant life which supports a local animal population, and mine operators have to destroy the plant life to access the minerals. A recent study from South Africa shows that rehabilitation efforts can restore at least some of the damage. However, even a very concerted effort to restore the area cannot bring the mine site back to its prior state.

The draft Environmental and Social Assessment for the Toliara project predicts changes to soil and topography and loss of vegetation, resources and biodiversity at the mining site. It further mentions the possibility of land and water pollution in that area.

With respect to biodiversity, the mining site is surrounded by the protected area called PK-32 Ranobe, which is part of the Mikea Forest and considered as a hotspot of biodiversity that has attracted the attention of international conservation groups. The construction of the road for the mining project will bring about the fragmentation of the vegetation and forest in this area, with detrimental impacts on its high biodiversity value, with several rare and local endemic species of reptile, amphibian, mammal, bird, invertebrates and plants, 90 per cent of which are found nowhere else. Therefore, conserving the flora and fauna of this Mikea forest is of critical importance.

Questions over validity of permits The validity of the mining permit for the project that was issued in 2012 is questioned because the Malagasy government in place at that time did not have the authority to do so. This government was a “transitional” government and had agreed to “refrain from making new long-term commitments.” While the President of the transitional government is now the country’s elected president, it is argued that his transition government did not have authority in 2012 to make far-reaching deals such as granting a mining license to the Toliara project. In addition, the delivery of mining licenses had been officially suspended in 2011.

Misuse of the Public Utility Declaration Through a public utility declaration, the government is authorized to acquire or take possession of land, and subsequently to proceed to the compulsory expropriation of the affected land occupants. Several local and international civil society organisations have signed a petition urging the Malagasy government to cancel their decision to declare construction on the port and road infrastructure, as well as the exploitation in the mines, a public utility. The signatories state that the procedures required by Ordinance No. 62-023 of the 1962 law on Public Interest Declarations, concerning prior investigation and public inquiry and the drafting of a provisional plan, have not been respected.