The Chairman of the African Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG), Dele Alake, has called for stronger regulation and improved safety standards in Africa’s artisanal and small-scale mining sector following the reported deaths of more than 100 miners in a gold mine collapse in Zamboye, Central African Republic.
Alake, in a statement made available to journalists in Abuja on Friday, described the incident as a “profound tragedy” and expressed condolences to the government and people of the Central African Republic, particularly the families of the victims.
He said the disaster underscored the dangers posed by illegal and poorly regulated mining activities across the continent.
According to him, unregulated mining not only deprives African countries of legitimate revenue and contributes to environmental degradation, but also exposes miners to preventable deaths and injuries.
“Illegal and unregulated mining is not only depriving African countries of legitimate revenues, damaging our environment and facilitating the illicit trafficking of our mineral resources. It is also putting the lives of our people at grave risk,” Alake said.
The former Nigerian Minister of Solid Minerals Development noted that many artisanal miners were young people seeking livelihoods, supporting their families and escaping poverty.
He stressed that no mineral resource was valuable enough to justify the loss of human lives.
Alake therefore urged African governments to adopt a balanced approach that combines enforcement against illegal mining with measures that allow artisanal miners to formalise their operations and work under safer conditions.
He said governments should strengthen mine-safety regulations, improve monitoring and create legal pathways for artisanal and small-scale miners to operate within the formal economy.
According to him, the AMSG would continue to advocate stronger regulation, improved safety standards and the formalisation of artisanal and small-scale mining across Africa.
“This tragedy must not become another statistic that we mourn today and forget tomorrow,” Alake said.
He added that Africa’s mineral development must protect not only the continent’s resources but also the people whose livelihoods depend on them.
“We owe the victims of Zamboye more than our condolences. We owe them action,” he said.
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