Like the devastating Indian Ocean cyclones that regularly strike Madagascar with dramatic human and material consequences, the massive Vara Mada rare earth mining project that has been feared for years by residents could soon hit the Great Island. Proposed by U.S.-based Energy Fuels, the project has been delayed for years, including by the October 2025 military coup triggered by youth-led protests demanding better access to water and electricity.

On April 20, the United States announced that Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau—the second-highest-ranking State Department official—had met with Prime Minister Mamitiana Rajaonarison to “reaffirm the strength of our relationship and highlight their commitment to advancing trade and investment opportunities, including the Vara Mada rare earths mine.” This was followed by a June 7 meeting with a delegation led by two other senior State Department officials.

Fearful that the April U.S.-Madagascar meeting indicated that the authorities had already given the project the green light, on April 26 local civil society organizations denounced what they called a determination to “trample on the demands of affected populations regarding respect for their fundamental rights to their ancestral lands, their livelihoods, their health, and their environment.”

Why is there so much attention from Washington on Madagascar? In short, it has become a priority target for the U.S. and European Union in their race to secure strategic minerals and reduce their dependence on China.

Located in southwest Madagascar, 45 kilometers north of the port city of Toliara, Vara Mada is now part of the global minerals race. It is reported to contain large quantities of ilmenite, zircon, rutile, and monazite—rare earth minerals used for the production of magnets and other industrial uses. Rutile and ilmenite are the primary sources of titanium dioxide, used notably in solar panel coatings, while monazite is used in the production of permanent magnets found in wind turbine generators and electric vehicle motors.

Rare earth mineral extraction is a particularly environmentally destructive process, as it demands enormous quantities of water and energy, relies heavily on chemicals, and generates toxic by-products that can contaminate rivers and farmland. Mining of ilmenite and monazite by QIT Madagascar Minerals (QMM) in the south of the country has reportedly caused water contamination, deforestation, and loss of homes and land. Affected communities have frequently protested against the owners, Rio Tinto and the Madagascar government, while being targeted by legal proceedings and excessive use of force.

For similar reasons, local communities have been protesting against the proposed Vara Mada project for years. Some protests have resulted in deaths, injuries, and detentions, including in March 2025 when security forces “violently suppressed” a march of 2,000 people to the beach of Andaboy near Toliara, “resulting in three deaths and eight persons injured, including two police officers,” according to a letter to Energy Fuels from six UN Special Rapporteurs. Civil society organizations have also reported gunshot injuries in a locality of the Toliara II district in April 2025, as well as “acts of torture” against detained protesters.

Among several audits conducted by Madagascar’s Court of Auditors across various public services in 2020, the audit focused on the process for granting mining titles and the environmental certification of Base Toliara found that traditional land rights were being ignored and that no formal lease or agreements had been concluded with affected communities.

In September 2025, the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, along with six UN Special Rapporteurs, wrote to Energy Fuels’ CEO warning of “actual and potential adverse human rights impacts” from the proposed project. They noted that mining operations and the construction of a haul road would put “approximately one thousand people at risk of eviction and cause loss of access to grazing and farming lands.” Energy Fuels’ feasibility study acknowledges the risk of displacement.

The Vara Mada project also poses serious risks to a crucial biodiversity hotspot. The company’s own 2025 feasibility study confirms that several boundaries of the mining permit abut the Ranobe-PK32 Protected Area and that the mineral haulage corridor will traverse the biodiversity-rich area. This protected area is home to one of Madagascar’s largest and most unique spiny and dry forests, harboring species found nowhere else in the world. The feasibility study also acknowledges risks to employees, the public, and the environment linked to monazite’s radioactive properties.

Under Madagascar’s 2023 Mining Code, no mining activity may begin without prior environmental authorization. Energy Fuels says in its feasibility study that an updated environmental and social impact assessment is being prepared; there is no publicly available information about when it will be released. Civil society organizations have criticized the near-total absence of meaningful consultation and the lack of transparent information from both the company and the authorities.

The President of the National Assembly, Siteny Randrianasoloniaiko, the elected representative for Toliara, is himself opposed to the project. He wrote on Facebook: “In the face of the Vara Mada project and its potential damage to the baobab forests and the environment, I repeat with conviction: development that destroys our national heritage is unacceptable. A project is unacceptable if its price is the destruction of Madagascar’s unique natural resources. True development is development that improves people’s lives while protecting the environment.” In May, Randrianasoloniaiko asked the Ministry of Finance to provide the means enabling the parliamentary commission of inquiry into the Vara Mada project, whose creation was approved in December 2025, to carry out their work.

Halfway around the globe, indigenous people and environmental justice activists in the United States are also expressing concerns about Energy Fuels’ activities. On May 16, they demonstrated against the company’s uranium mine in La Sal, Utah. Opponents say the site sits on ancient, sacred land and is becoming “an international radioactive dump.”

Should the Vara Mada project go ahead, Energy Fuels’ study projects that the monazite would be transferred to the company’s rare earth refinery in Utah, where it would be processed into rare earth oxides for permanent magnets, primarily for use in electric vehicles and wind turbines.

In light of all the concerns, consideration of the mine should be deferred until the parliamentary commission of inquiry regarding Vara Mada is provided with sufficient resources and guarantees of independence to conduct its work effectively, and has concluded its investigation. During this time, the company’s environmental and social impact study should be released to the public with sufficient time for public comment. Only then should the government consider whether the project should go ahead, require substantial changes to protect people and the environment, or be shelved. The U.S. is a superpower, but its interests in this project should not be a decisive factor; that should be in the hands of the people of Madagascar.