BAMAKO: More than 70 miners were killed after a gold mine located in a landlocked country in West Africa, Mali, collapsed, local African media reported on Wednesday.
Mali’s Ministry of Mines, in a statement, announced the death of several miners but did not cite the actual and 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, which is among the world’s poorest countries, is one of Africa’s leading gold producers.
Gold mining sites are regularly the scene of deadly landslides and authorities struggle to control artisanal mining of the metal.
Mali produced 72.2 tonnes of gold in 2022 and the metal contributed 25 percent of the national budget, 75 percent of export earnings and 10 percent of GDP, the then minister of mines Lamine Seydou Traore said in March last year.
