[2] The company has perpetrated extreme human rights violations at Lega Dembi gold mine in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia by improper disposal of hazardous waste including mercury, arsenic, and cyanide.

[8] Between 1997 and 2009, MIDROC's expansion of the mine caused deforestation and displaced Indigenous Gujii people from their ancestral land,[9] denying their right to free, prior and informed consent.

[3] Local people allege that Midroc dumped chemicals into rivers that residents used for drinking and for livestock, causing birth deformities and animal deaths.

[9] One healthcare provider reported that, "Mothers are having miscarriages every single day...I am not seeing this in other places, only around the mining site.”[12] A field study in 2018-2019 found 19 children with "serious deformities and paralysis" in a survey of 36 households.

[3] A 2016 report by Human Rights Watch found that, “Security forces committed numerous human rights violations in response to the protests, including arbitrary arrest and detention, killings and other uses of excessive force, torture and ill-treatment in detention, and enforced disappearances.”[10] MIDROC owns 70% of National Oil Ethiopia, which competes with YBF, TAF and five other companies in the national petrol market[13] and is establishing a major steel plant (Tossa) in Amhara.

[15] North Holdings Investment announced 17 October 2009 that it had completed a feasibility study for its own cement factory at Dejen, which would be built on 450 hectares of land.