AT least 28 people have been killed after a landslide struck an illegal gold mining site in Angola’s northwestern Bengo province, in one of the country’s deadliest artisanal mining accidents, said Reuters on Monday.
Authorities said four people were rescued from the site. The province’s civil protection and fire service said in a statement on Sunday that search operations had been completed. Victims of Saturday’s accident were aged between 16 and 35, Reuters reported.
Illegal mining in Angola has historically centred on diamonds, but a government drive to diversify the country’s minerals industry has spurred a boom in artisanal extraction of other metals, including gold.
Angola is Africa’s second-largest diamond producer, but falling gem prices and the rising prevalence of synthetic stones have prompted Luanda to broaden its mining base into copper and gold, the newswire said.
In an effort to contain illegal mining, governments have been seeking to formalise the sector. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the government is partnerships with mining companies to formalise artisanal digging on their concessions, according to Bloomberg News article earlier this month.
Citing Entreprise Générale du Cobalt CEO, Eric Kalala, the newswire said the proposal was aimed at reducing illegal incursions on mining properties.
In terms of the proposed partnerships, small parcels of land within mining permits would be designated for use by cooperatives of artisanal diggers. The artisanal miners would then work alongside the concession holders.
Formalising the relationship between artisanal and industrial mining has historically been complicated by miners’ reluctance to cede ground on valuable concessions or expose themselves to legal liability.
