A tragic accident at an artisanal gold mine in southwestern Mali has resulted in the deaths of at least thirteen people, including women and three children. The incident occurred when a tunnel, where miners were digging for gold, was flooded after the sluice gates of a muddy water reservoir broke. The accident took place at an open-pit mine near the village of Danga in the Kangaba Cercle, located in the Koulikoro region.
The victims, including women and children who were digging for leftover gold particles, were caught in the flood when the water from the reservoir spilled into their tunnel. UCROM (the National Union of Gold Counters and Refineries) Secretary-General, Taoule Camara, confirmed the incident by phone, describing the situation as devastating. “It is serious. There were a lot of women. We spent all day yesterday clearing away the water to start looking for the bodies,” Camara said, before the final death toll was confirmed.
Artisanal mining, which involves small-scale, unregulated methods of extraction, is common across West Africa, especially in Mali, where demand for gold and rising metal prices have made the practice more profitable. However, the lack of regulation and the use of dangerous digging techniques make these operations prone to deadly accidents.
This latest incident adds to the growing concern over the safety of artisanal miners in the region. In January of the previous year, more than 70 people lost their lives in a similar incident when a mining shaft collapsed at another site in the Kangaba Cercle.
