20 dead as result of landslides at illegal mine

Maputo, 5 Jun (AIM) – At least 20 illegal miners have lost their lives since January this year, as a result of landslides in various mines located in the central Mozambican province of Manica.

According to Silva Manuel, Director of the Provincial Infrastructure Services, who was speaking to reporters on Tuesday, it is difficult to determine the exact number of deaths resulting from illegal mining in Manica, since many accidents are not reported by the communities for fear of the repercussions that may draw the attention of the authorities.

“We are trying to count the deaths in illegal mining”, said Manuel. “The number of deaths could reach 20 and could even be a little more because we do not have a count of other places, where problems of this nature are not reported”.

Most of the fatalities, he added, were recorded in the districts of Manica, Gondola, and Báruè. “The artisanal miners must organize themselves into associations to ensure safer and more sustainable exploitation of the resources and avoid practices that put lives at risk. We are working to raise awareness, reporting these deaths, so that people feel that this work is harming families”, he said.

The last official report of deaths from illegal mining was in March, when two people died in a tourmaline mine in Báruè district. In February, at least three people died and two suffered minor injuries in a landslide at the same mine.

The Mozambican authorities have been expressing their concern at the growing cases of illegal mining, which experts believe is one of the sources of funding for the Islamist terrorists operating in parts of Cabo Delgado province.

According to the National Geology and Mining Directorate, the country loses revenue of about 90 million meticais (1.4 million dollars) a year due to illegal mining.

According to research undertaken by the Ministry of Mineral Resources and by the National Statistics Institute (INE) in 2021, the country had 2,162 artisanal mining zones. 1,577 of these zones, or 72.9 per cent of the total, are active.
(AIM)
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