“It started with a noise.
The earth began to shake.
» In the southwest of Mali, the collapse of a mine led to the death of 73 people on Friday.
In a press release published Tuesday and consulted by AFP, the country's Ministry of Mines had already mentioned a major accident, without however specifying the exact number of victims.
Gold mine collapse in Mali kills more than 70 people
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73 bodies found
“There were more than 200 gold prospectors in the field.
The research is over now.
We are at 73 bodies found,” a Kangaba gold prospector, Oumar Sidibé, told AFP.
A local elected official confirmed the number of victims.
The government presented on Tuesday “its most saddened condolences to the grieving families and the Malian people”.
He invited “communities living near mining sites and gold miners to scrupulously respect safety requirements and to work only in areas dedicated to gold panning”.
One of Africa's leading gold producers
Mali, among the poorest countries in the world, is one of the leading producers of gold in Africa.
Gold panning sites are regularly the scene of deadly landslides, the activity being dangerous and the authorities struggling to control artisanal mining of the metal.
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This is not the first time that a mining tragedy - even if in this case, its scale is unprecedented - has shaken the country.
In February 2022, the explosion of a stock of dynamite at an artisanal gold site killed at least 59 people in the southwestern region of Burkina Faso.
Accidents are also regularly reported in Guinea, Senegal, and in border regions of western Mali.
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A quarter of the national budget
With 72.2 tonnes produced in 2022 (including 6 tonnes by artisanal gold panning), gold alone contributed in Mali to 25% of the national budget, 75% of export revenues and 10% of GDP, said in March 2023 the then Minister of Mines, Lamine Seydou Traoré.
Like other governments in Africa, the Malian junta, which made the restoration of sovereignty one of its mantras after taking power by force in 2020, has expressed its desire to share its wealth with the country.
In August 2023, it adopted a new mining code allowing the State to take up to 30% participation in new projects.
It should bring in at least 500 billion CFA francs (762 million euros) to the annual state budget, according to the government.
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Artisanal mines and foreign groups
The Malian mining sector is dominated by foreign groups, such as the Canadian Barrick Gold and B2Gold, the Australian Resolute Mining or the British Hummingbird Resources, which operate despite the jihadist expansion and political instability to which the country has been subject for years. .
Despite this, artisanal mines also continue to prosper and attract thousands of gold miners from across the sub-region in search of wealth.
At the Kangaba mine, where this latest accident occurred, nearly 200 gold miners work in the maze of the structure.