A ‘leading’ Chinese miner of Mozambique’s heavy sands linked to environmental destruction

A Mongabay investigation found that a sand mining operation in Mozambique's Zambezia Province destroyed hundreds of hectares of mangroves within a few years, in an area controlled by Mozambique Heavy Sand Company VIII, part-owned by China's Jinan Yuxiao Group. The company's broader concessions reportedly span more than 500,000 hectares targeting titanium-bearing sands used in paints, plastics, and sunscreen.

Satellite analysis from Global Mangrove Watch and Wetlands International traced unusual deforestation alerts to sand mining activity that blocked a waterway, severing an estuary from the sea between 2022 and 2026. Cutting off seawater flow alters soil chemistry in ways that can kill mangroves outright.

Transparency advocate Fatima Mimbire said some of these projects proceed without environmental impact assessments at all, describing firsthand visits to sites where coasts, dunes, and islands were being visibly destroyed. Mozambique holds East Africa's largest mangrove cover, but net losses from 2015-2022 preceded a recent uptick attributed partly to reforestation efforts.

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