Bea Mountain Mining Company Takes Measures against the Spread of COVID-19

At a time when the government is seeking financial and medical assistance from partners to curb the third wave of COVID-19, Bea Mountain Mining Company, located in Grand Cape Mount County, has begun instituting measures and taking concrete actions to complement the efforts of the County Health team to prevent the spread of the virus.

Bea Mountain Mining Company is currently mining gold in Kinjor, Grand Cape Mount under Class ‘A’ license with 3,500 people, both local and expatriates, in its employ.  The company has for now four of its expatriates infected with the disease and have since been quarantined and undergoing treatment.

In order to revert the spread of the virus, Community Relations Officer, Henry Vincent, says the company has release an internal memo mandating all workers to wear their masks, carry out proper handwashing, and observe social distance, and anyone going against the rules set is fined US$100.00 and repeat of the offense leads to dismissal.

In addition to the stringent measures, the Bea Mountain Mining Company’s Community Relations Officer Henry Vincent said the company is also complementing the efforts of the county health team to reach out with awareness to the local people, providing them needed materials for the fight against the disease.

“Just on Friday, July 9, our Community Relations team donated several COVID-19 preventive materials to six schools and residents of Kinjor Town in the Gola Konneh District.  We gave out liquid detergent, hand sanitizers, nose masks and buckets,” Vincent said.

In addition to the distribution, Vincent said the company has also provided an ambulance to the county health team to transport patients from their local residence to the health center in the county.

As of July 10, the National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL) had recorded 55 confirmed cases in Grand Cape Mount County with 35 persons undergoing treatment including those confirmed within the realm of the company.

Earlier, the company, in an effort to instill fear and concern in order for employees to be cautious of the disease, placed an internal memo indicating that 25 percent of the workers were down with the virus.  According to the Community Relations Officer, this was meant to bring caution to workers to take seriously the precautionary and preventive measures accompanying the fight against the virus.

 According to him, comparing the percentage with the number of infected persons in the county does not have any coherence, but the information was meant to draw attention to how seriously the company takes the fight.  Nevertheless, Mr. Vincent said seeing it out in the press was something that the company least expected.

Meanwhile, relationship between Bea Mountain Mining Company and the affected community is restoring unlike the past years when community members expressed discontent over its failure to meet up with the obligations enshrined in the Mineral Development Agreement.  

Currently, Kinjor town has streetlights and over hundred housing units have been erected.  According to the residents, the company has agreed to build the clinic requested for and the playground for children.  It is also to build the community school for the locals, and the residents claim that the management now sits with them to discuss issues pertinent to their community.