Mining in Africa is a tough business. It is not symmetrical in terms of law application and enforcement. The local partner normally earns their position by taking care of all of this and some local partners are more effective than others. When there is a problem though, it is your problem not the partners problem.I don't condone Gemfields for the actions, the presence of their own security staff in setting the tone and pace for what was expected is a mistake. Very clever solutions to set up bank accounts as part of the payments, as that quarantines the unseen parties from the money.
The buyers will not stop buying the product. At the end of the day most of the violations happened with the previous management before Gemfields was rescued so difficult to attach shareholder blame to a director.
