Meanwhile, when asked for comment, Enias Thomas, the administration officer on site for Gecko Mining, explained that the community members may have misunderstood the terms of the agreement they entered into with the company.

Enias Thomas, the admin officer at Gecko Mining, says, "We are doing two things: we are doing a construction, and we are trying to mine rare earth minerals and also blue sodalite, and about the community's complaint about the one-dollar payment for them selling their stones, they are actually mining on our EPL, Gecko EPL, and then whoever is mining on our EPL, when they sell their rocks, they have to pay a dollar per kg as agreed because we agreed with the community, and it's an agreement, and if a person owns their own EPL or claim, then that's okay; they don't need to pay to Gecko."

Some of the miners also claim that Gecko Mining does not carry out any corporate social responsibility in the Orutumba Village.

Headman of the Orutumba Village, Simon Petrus, said, "They build nothing for us, no assistance at all, not even a school or clinic they build nothing or help us with anything. They even have cars, but if someone is sick, they can't even help us It's the Chinese that assist us because with Gecko, when you request assistance, they apparently first have to call their head office in South Africa for permission to take someone to the hospital."

Small-scale miner Tjavara Tjikongo spoke on the side of the workers, those employed by Gecko, saying, "They have not employed anyone permanently as we speak. As we speak right now, it has fired people, and we want to ask the government as well as you that are here. Can the government not do something about this? There is a concern, and I want to bring it to your attention: we want to have a sit-down with a gentleman from Gecko and the mineworks and journalists also to ask Gecko what benefits they bring."

Some claims Thomas refuted, saying they do assist the community members where they can.

Thomas further stated that, according to him, he has been there since 2021, and "we have been assisting community members left, right, and centre, like transport-wise and donations to schools and transport to go collect their food relief. I think I have only once seen an NDF truck that brought their food here. We send a truck to go collect their food for the Orutumba and Otjimuhaka villages. We do assist them; even if there is a sick person, I receive calls, and I respond. We try, but we need to call our supervisors, obviously, but there are procedures to follow, so I can't drive it just like that what if you are in an accident everything is on you, but we do need to get permission."