Dozens feared dead as informal gold mine collapses in Mali

Dozens of people have died in the West African country of Mali after an informal gold mine collapsed last week, the country's Ministry of Mines said on Wednesday, highlighting the risks faced by scores of artisanal miners in one of Africa's biggest gold-producing countries.

It was not immediately clear what caused the collapse last Friday or how many people had died at the site about 90 kilometers southwest of the capital Bamako, according to a ministry statement. The death toll was more than 70 people, according to The Associated Press, and as of Wednesday, rescuers were still searching for bodies, the ministry said.

Several West African countries have gone through a new experience tree in informal mining, also called artisanal mining, over the past twenty years. It has provided livelihoods for thousands of people, fueled smuggling routes and attracted armed groups. In northern Mali, for example, Tuareg rebels and insurgents linked to Al Qaeda control mining sites.

In 2022, Mali produced more than 72 tons of gold, which represented a quarter of the national budget and 75 percent of export revenues, former Mining Minister Lamine Seydou Traoré said last March. About six tons came from artisanal mining.

Gold has been an important part of the Malian economy for centuries, ever since Mansa Musa, the ruler of the ancient empire of Mali, traveled to Egypt with a caravan of tens of thousands of people in the 14th century and flooded the local markets with so much gold that its value crumbled for more than a decade, historical records show show.

In recent years, the country has become a major hub for smuggling artisanal West African gold into the United Arab Emirates.

In an attempt to gain control over the profits from the mines, Mali's military government ruled adopted a mining code last summer that gave the state and local investors a 35 percent stake in mining projects — up from 20 percent. Mali is home to industrial mines operated by mining multinationals such as Barrick Gold Corporation and B2Gold Corporation, among others.

In November, Mali signed an agreement with Russia to build a gold refinery in Bamako, another sign of the growing ties between the two countries. Russia has supplied helicopters and weapons to the Malian army and sent Wagner mercenaries to crush Islamist insurgents and rebel groups.

Although Wagner agents have attempted to obtain mining concessions in exchange for their presence in Mali, no deal has yet been publicly announced.