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16-02-2025
BAMAKO: More than 40 people, mostly women, were killed after an illegal gold mine collapsed in Mali on Saturday.
The collapse took place near Kenieba, in Mali’s western, gold-rich Kayes region.
The victims had climbed into open-pit areas left by industrial miners to look for scraps of gold when the earth around them caved in, a gold miner’s union leader told media.
This is Mali’s second deadly mining accident in three weeks, after at least 10 people were killed when a mining tunnel flooded late in January.
Reports of the exact number who died in Saturday’s accident are conflicting.
A local police source told media that 48 people were killed in the collapse, while the head of an industry union told Reuters there were 43 victims.
“Some of the victims fell into the water. Among them was a woman with her baby on her back,” the local police source told media.
Mali is one of the biggest gold producers in the world. Accidents are common in the country as much mining activity is unregulated, with miners using unsafe methods to dig for gold.
Just over a year ago, at least 40 people were killed after a tunnel collapsed in a mine.
A spokesperson from the country’s mines ministry confirmed to Reuters that the accident had taken place between the towns of Kenieba and Dabia, but declined to give further details.
Ministry teams are drawing up a report at the scene, media reports.
The collapse on Saturday occurred at an abandoned site formerly operated by a Chinese company, according to media.
Beijing is heavily invested in developing Mali’s mining industries, with the approval of its government.
Mali is currently engaged in a dispute over revenue sharing with one of the largest mining companies in the country, the Canadian firm Barrick.
Last month, the Malian government seized gold bars worth $245m (£194m) from Barrick and issued an arrest warrant for its CEO, Mark Bristow.
Bristow said he had “no doubt” the conflict would be resolved in an interview with Bloomberg this week.
In November, last year an Australian mining company, Resolute Mining, says it will pay Mali’s military government $160m (£126m) to settle a tax dispute, after the company’s British boss and two other staff were unexpectedly detained 10 days ago.
Reports say Terry Holohan and his colleagues were arrested while travelling to the capital city, Bamako, for what they were expecting to be routine negotiations.
Resolute, which owns a gold mine in Mali, said on Sunday it would pay $80m immediately from existing cash reserves, and the rest in the coming months.
Mali is one of Africa’s top gold producers.
It is seeking to extract a greater share of income from foreign operators in the sector.
It is not yet clear when the three resolute employees will be released.
Part of the conditions for their release were that they must sign the memorandum of understanding and complete the initial payment, according to a report by the French broadcaster RFI.
Mali’s military rulers detained the three resolute executives on charges of forgery and damaging public property, seen as an attempt to blackmail the Australian company amid an ongoing state crackdown on foreign mostly Western mining companies in the West African country. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
