GOLD MINE COLLAPSE IN MALI CLAIMS MORE THAN 70 LIVES

Wed 24 January 2024:

More than 70 people were killed when a tunnel collapsed at a Malian gold mining site last week, according to local sources.

Mali, one of the world’s poorest countries, is Africa’s largest gold producer.

Authorities struggle to manage artisanal gold mining, which often ends up in disastrous landslides.

“It started with a noise. The earth started to shake,” Oumar Sidibe, an official for gold miners in the southwestern town of Kangaba, told AFP, of the incident on Friday.

“There were over 200 gold miners in the field. The search is over now. We’ve found 73 bodies,” he said.

The same toll was given by a local councillor.

Mali’s ministry of mines in a statement on Tuesday had announced the death of several miners but did not give precise figures.

The government offered its “deepest condolences to the grieving families and to the Malian people”.

It also called on “communities living near mining sites and gold miners to scrupulously respect safety requirements and to work only within the perimeters dedicated to gold panning”.

Mali’s mining sector is dominated by foreign groups, including Canada’s Barrick Gold and B2Gold, Australia’s Resolute Mining and Britain’s Hummingbird Resources, which continue to operate despite the political instability that has plagued the country for years.

But artisanal mines also continue to flourish and attract thousands of gold miners.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

______________________________________________________________

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

WhatsApp CHANNEL
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAtNxX8fewmiFmN7N22