2024-09-02 13:48:00
Good grief! Information should not depend on dubious mood swings or obey sordid special interests. It is based on facts and draws its strength from truth. If it is not gospel, it cannot seem like a vulgar parody.
If it were not for the purpose of enlightening the public and reassuring public opinion that there is no danger in the matter, there would be no reason to be distracted by a campaign of discredit that has not yet begun and doubtless still has a bright future ahead of it, because Bel Air Mining, which is advancing slowly but surely, is preventing some people from sleeping; the same people, all along, who have been calling with all their hearts for its improbable bankruptcy.
Here we go again, stupidity, always insisting, unfair competition, bad advice.
Thus, Bel Air Mining would have closed its doors. We thought we had a scoop, but in reality, we served up a rhetoric, sewn with the white thread of lies and malice. In the “funeral oration” of circumstance dedicated to a company that is alive and well, in perfect health, we did not worry about popular sensitivity and the reputation of the company. And yet, it would have been enough to make an effort to go to the source, to knock on the right door to avoid being the laughing stock of the public. But since it is not the truth that is sought, nor professionalism that guides, we have fallen into gratuitous slander in order, certainly, to honor a contract with competitors and adversaries, hidden in the shadows, committed to harming the image and interests of their bête noire, Bel Air Mining.
If the objective is to throw the company to public opinion, to defame it excessively, to compromise it in the eyes of all, this time again, the mountain has given birth to a mouse, to the extent that Bel Air Mining, to the great displeasure of competitors in bad faith, driven by evil intentions, is doing very well and intends, against all odds, to follow through on its bet to exist and count in the very flourishing Guinean mining sector.
Bel Air has a certificate of non-bankruptcy No. 224/2024, dated August 14, 2024, signed by the Head of the Registry, in charge of the RCCM, at the Commercial Court of Conakry which is “proof of life”, if need be. There is no better denial than this act to the orchestrated cabal, against Bel Air Mining. Far from it!
So, let the company’s partners be reassured, the company’s difficulties lie elsewhere and very far from the caricature fed in the press, maintained by informers whose objective is well known.
Today, the good faith of the company and its managers is not in question. Despite the current desert crossing, the vagaries of the international context, the Bel Air Mining company has never shirked its responsibilities nor failed in its commitments to the State and all its partners.
As for the difficulties of honoring certain obligations, in particular the payment of workers’ salaries, it is as necessary as it is important to establish all responsibilities, without passion or frivolity.
Even if everyone is quick to cast stones, to rush into action, to blame society for the current crisis which is not comparable to the announced bankruptcy, a certain amount of education would help to achieve a better understanding of all, likely to nip in the bud any desire for discredit, to put an end to desperate attempts to manipulate public opinion.
Contrary to popular outcry, to the version of events of the tireless detractors, often malicious competitors, the difficulty encountered by the company can be explained, simply, by the dispute between two of its service providers or partners.
What is it about?
With the vision of the new Management imprinted under the seal of rigor and internal restructuring, a vast program of change was carried out to not only mark the break but also to have a positive and lasting impact on the functioning of the company.
This is how STS Scatoshore Group, which subcontracts with Wansa Commodities Pte Ld, the commercial partner of Bel Air Mining, has committed to providing cutting-edge logistics to enable it to restart and increase its production. That is to say, going from one monthly ship to two for an annual total of seven (7) million tonnes of bauxite for the year 2024, compared to four million in 2023, or eight thousand (8,000) tonnes per day, in accordance with the stated ambition of the new General Management, under the leadership of Amara Somparé, CEO of Bel Air Mining.
Unfortunately, the reception of the equipment which was planned for 2023 did not take place until March 2024. And, this logistics, instead of being under the Bel Air Mining label, was rather in the name of AGS, another competing partner.
Informed, the CEO of Bel Air Mining contacted the CEO of Customs by letter for authorization to pool equipment so that his company, faced with the pressing need for results and other obligations, could effectively start up to honor its commitments. A request for pooling that was favorably received and which will seal the dispute at the port level.
This is how Bel Air Mining took out the equipment to put it on its site in April 2024.
Shortly after, it was AGS that seized Bel Air Mining for the withdrawal of logistics on its bauxite transport and transhipment site for not having been associated with any request for co-exploitation of STS group logistics. In its capacity as a virtuous company, respectful of standards and transparency practices in an internal context of restructuring, in accordance with its new vision, it was executed.
Since then, the dispute has continued to the detriment of Bel Air Mining, which has seen the dream of its new management team shattered. Thus, after being notified, the Commercial Court of Conakry examined the file to understand its ins and outs. As a result, an injunction order was issued on April 9, 2024 in favor of Wansa and to the detriment of STS.
Despite this injunction order, STS has not complied with the order, which this entity is resisting, thus flouting the Guinean justice system, in particular the commercial court.
Following this umpteenth refusal by STS to comply with a court decision and to respect its contractual commitments, the Boffa TPI also issued order no. 11 on 18/04/2024, to order the cessation of all work by STS on behalf of companies other than Wansa and Bel Air.
Following this decision by the president of the Boffa TPI, only the STS FC1 and STS FC5 cranes were immobilized.
It is this conflict pending before the country’s courts that explains, today, the delay in the salaries of workers at the Bel Air Mining company, which is not in agony, nor has it filed for bankruptcy as the birds of ill omen and all the prophets of doom who swarm in business circles and public spheres would like. Alas!
Jobs and local content…
With its reputation as a “citizen” company, Bel Air Mining is increasingly close to the communities surrounding its operating sites. With the construction of culverts, boreholes, health centers, mosques, installation of lighting kits, support for young people and women’s groups, elders, support for entrepreneurship and involvement of local service providers in the transport of bauxite, the impact of the company remains enormous and qualitatively changes the lives of these surrounding communities.
The other aspect, not the least, out of the 630 direct jobs created, the company has only seventeen (17) expatriates. One more reason to ensure the survival of the company in a context where the employment deficit continues to grow. Despite the desire to harm, the thirst to find a scapegoat, Bel Air is far from all this cabal orchestrated by unfair competitors and remains and continues to be a responsible company, focused on results as already printed by the new General Management in its vision of internal restructuring which must result in the revival and increase of the production of the Bel Air Mining company.
Dossier/ lerevelateur224.com