Mining, AIDS, and Development: Could "Sustainable Mining" Bring More Harm than Good to Madagascar?

The island state of Madagascar could be turning into a mineral economy. A massive ilmenite mine is currently being built by mining giant Rio Tinto in the southeastern Anosy region, near the city of Fort Dauphin. Rio Tinto purports that this is a sustainable mining project; it has addressed important environmental and social problems that have historically plagued the mining industry and believes that this project will spur sustainable development in the impoverished country. Unfortunately the company has given little attention to the causal link between mining and the spread of HIV/AIDS throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. Currently Madagascar’s rate of seropositivity is below one percent, but this project almost guarantees that this number will increase significantly. Consequently, the broad-reaching effects of an HIV/AIDS epidemic will undermine many of the actions Rio Tinto has made to encourage sustainable development.