In Mali, around twenty people died in the collapse of a gold mining site. This happened this Saturday, June 8 at the Faranida site, in the Bougouni region, in the south of the country. This type of accident is unfortunately very common in artisanal gold mines.
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At Mali, 21 dead bodies have been exhumed and others may still be trapped under the rubble. The Faranida site is located in the village of Kalako, commune of Kalana, circle of Yanfolila. This is an area where the Canadian company Endeavor operates a major gold mine. But in this case, it was on an artisanal gold panning site that the diggers perished when the tunnel into which they had plunged collapsed on them.
According to information cross-checked with local gold miners and the National Federation of Gold Panners of Mali (Fenom), the landslide occurred during the night of Saturday June 8 to Sunday June 9. The victims are very young and are between fifteen and twenty years old.
As on most gold panning sites, the diggers at Faranida are of various nationalities: Malians but also Burkinabè, Guineans or Ivorians.
Landslides of this type are unfortunately very common. But young artisanal miners, generally because they have no other work, brave this risk as well as the extremely harsh working conditions in the hope of discovering a few grams of gold to support themselves and those of their family.
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