Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso | AFP | An attack on a convoy transporting local employees of Canadian mining company Semafo in Burkina Faso left 37 people dead and 60 wounded on Wednesday, a regional governor said. It was the third deadly attack suffered by Semafo in 15 months in the West …
Read More »Mining: Moroto district battling environmental degradation
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Moroto district is battling serious environmental degradation emanating from the high demand for wood fuel as the major source of energy for households coupled with mining activities that have left ditches and deep holes in the area. The practice has been exacerbated by the …
Read More »Gov’t tasked to explain idle mineral licenses
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The government has been tasked to explain why as many as a half of minerals exploration licenses are in the hands of companies that have no capacity to use them. Dr Luisa Moreno, the managing partner and analyst with Toronto-based Tahuti Global Inc., said …
Read More »Gabon’s sole train a lifeline for its people and economy
Franceville, Gabon | AFP | The sky turns from indigo to ebony as the tropical night falls, and the train patiently thrusts through the jungle towards its destination, still hundreds of kilometres (miles) away. The trek has the hallmarks of one of the world’s Great Forgotten Train Journeys — a …
Read More »Regulate artisanal and small-scale mining
The Africa Centre for Energy and Mineral Policy (ACEMP) organised the first ever Uganda national conference and exhibition on artisanal and small-scale mining and quarrying in Kampala on July 25-26. The Independent’s Julius Businge spoke to Don Binyina Bwesigye, the ACEMP’s executive director on the significance of the event to …
Read More »Wolfram mining company lays off workers in Rubanda
Rubanda, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | KI3R Minerals International Limited, a United Kingdom-based company that is mining Wolfram in Nyamuriro Wolfram Mines, Muko Sub County Rubanda district has laid off its workers. The mines which cover 175 acres were revived by KI3R Minerals Limited in December 2016 after a takeover from …
Read More »Rwanda mine collapse kills 14
Kigali, Rwanda | AFP | An accident at an eastern Rwanda mine on Monday killed 14 people, including seven women, a local government official said. “This is an unfortunate event that nobody expected. The accident happened when falling debris at the mining site buried all the 14 people and killed …
Read More »Morocco closes 2,000 mine shafts after string of deaths
Rabat, Morocco | AFP | Moroccan authorities closed 2,000 illegal mine shafts last year in Jerada, an impoverished former coal town that has been the site of a string of deadly mining accidents. The closure of the “abandoned and illicitly exploited shafts” was announced Wednesday by the energy and mines …
Read More »Tanzania’s Magufuli orders central bank to create gold reserve
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Wednesday ordered the central bank to create a gold reserve, as he urged the government to better control mineral exports from the country, Africa’s fourth largest gold producer. “We should start buying gold, the central bank must invest in this. …
Read More »Masaka district tightens sand mining regulations
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Masaka district has instituted new measures against sand mining in an attempt to save wetlands. The decision was reached in a district council meeting chaired by the Speaker, Achilles Mawanda. The council resolved that all companies and individual miners first get a clearance from the …
Read More »