Russian multinational pulls out of Burkina Faso gold mine.

Russian gold mining company Nordgold has announced it is pulling out of one if its mines in Burkina Faso. The company has declared force majeure (that it is unable to keep up its obligations at the site due to exteaordinary events) on the Taparko Mine in Namantenga Province, about 200 km to the northeast of the capitol, Ouagadougou, citing the deteriorating security situation in the region, and the impossibility of keeping its staff their safe. The company now plans to evacuate all foreign staff from the site; it is unclear if any operations will continue at the mine, which is 90% owned by Nordgold and 10% by the Burkinabe government.

 

The Tarpako Gold Mine in Burkino Faso. Nordgold.

Burkino Faso has been suffering from high levels of violence in recent years, much of it targeting mines and foreign owned-businesses, largely fuelled by Islamic groups with ties to the Middle East, but also to some extent driven by high levels of poverty and the perception that large foreign companies are pillaging the country's wealth. Namantenga Province is in the northeast of the country, close to the borders with Mali and Niger, countries that have been affected by similar violence, making the area increasingly hard to police.

However, Norgold also appears to be suffering problems due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the global reaction to it. The company has not been the direct subject of sanctions by the international community yet, but Alexey Mordashov, who was the majority shareholder in the company at the outset of the Ukraine invasion, has been targeted for sanctions by the EU. Since the sanctions were imposed many of his shares have been transferred to his wife, Marina Aleksandrovna Mordashova, but it is unlikely that this will be enough to prevent further action. In addition, Swiss gold refiner MKS PAMP, with whom Norgold previously worked closely, has now suspended all business with the Russian company.

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Sixty people killed by explosion at gold mine in Burkina Faso.

Sixty people are believed to have died and over a hundred more to have been injured following an explosion at a storage site associated with a mine at Gbomblora in Poni Province, Burkina Faso, on Monday 21 February 2022. The explosion is thought to have happened at about 2.00 pm local time, at a store used to house explosives and chemicals used in the mining industry, and to have ripped through a crowded market and residential area, flattening houses and uprooting trees.

 

The aftermath of an explosion at a mine store in Gbomblora, Burkina Faso on Monday 21 February 2022, which tore through a residential district and a crowded market. Reuters.

The gold industry has expanded significantly in recent years, overtaking cotton as the country's main export in 2019. This has included a number of large multinational mining companies running major operations, but also smaller, locally run mines such as Gbomblora. This fast-growing industry has been very poorly regulated, particularly at smaller mines, where reports of poor safety conditions and the use of child labourers are common. This general lawlessness has attracted gold smugglers, who ship metal across the country's borders into neighbouring states without paying any revenue to the Burkinabe government, as well a militant groups, often affiliated to al Qaeda and Islamic State, who both run mines of their own and extort 'taxes' from other miners, as well as carrying out attacks on mines owned by foreign mining companies and others that they perceive as being aligned with the government, foreign interests, or simply rival militia groups. However, the Gbomblora blast happened in an area hundreds of kilometres from any known militia activity, and is thought to have been accidental in nature.

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Attack on convoy taking workers to gold mine in Burkina Faso kills at least 37

At least thirty seven people have been killed, with more than sixty wounded and many more missing, following an attack on a convoy of buses carrying workers to the Boungou Gold Mine in Gnagna Province in eastern Burkina Faso. The incident happened on the road between Fada and the Boungou Mine site, on Wednesday 6 November 2019, and began with with an explosion that destroyed a military escourt vehicle, followed by a number of gunmen opening fire on the buses. It is unclear how many of the dead are employees at the mine, which is owned by Canadian mining company Semafo, and how many were members of the Burkinabe security forces.

The approximate location of the 6 November 2019 attack. Google Maps.

 
This is the latest in a series of clashes at and around gold mines in Burkino Faso, which have claimed dozens of lives since September 2017, as well as numerous injuries, and damage to both mining facilities and local villages. In January this year a Canadian geologist was kidnapped and killed, and a number of other foreign workers have been held for ransom, and in October more than 20 people were killed in an attack on a mine at Dolmane in Soum Province, in the north of the country. Like may other African countries, Burkino Faso has granted concessions to mining companies in areas where small-scale artisanal mining has traditionally helped to supplement the incomes of subsistence farmers. This provides an important source of revenue for governments, however, little of the money from such projects tends to reach local communities, which often leads to ill feeling and attempts to continue mining clandestinely, which can result in tension or even clashes between mine operators and local populations.

However the recent large scale attacks on mines in Burkina Faso do not appear to have be directly aimed at the gold industry itself, but rather to have been part of a widening campaign against the central government in Burkina Faso, in which economic assets and infrastructure are attacked as often as military targets. The two main militant groups in the area, Ansarul Islam and the Macina Liberation Front, both seek the re-establishment of the short-lived state of Macina, which occupied parts of what is now northern Burkina Faso, eastern Mali, and western Niger, between 1818 and 1862. Both groups claim both religious authority and to represent populations that are often ignored by central governments in their respective nations, but neither has, to date, sought to hold any territory or establish any form of alternative administration.

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Millitants kill at least 23 in attack on gold mine in Soum Province, Burkina Faso.

At least 23 people have died following an attack on a gold mine at Dolmane in Soum Provimce, Burkina Faso, on Friday 4 October 2019. The majority of those killed are reported to have been miners. This attack appears to have been the latest in a series of such assaults carried out by militants claiming links with al Qaeda. Islamic State and other Middle Eastern groups, that have been active in the West African country since 2015, part of a wave of such groups that have sprung up in the western Sahel region. 

The location of Soum Province in northern Burkina Faso. Google Maps.

This is the latest in a series of clashes at and around gold mines in Burkino Faso, which have claimed several lives since September 2017, as well as numerous injuries, and damage to both mining facilities and local villages. In January this year a Canadian geologist was kidnapped and killed, and a number of other foreign workers have been held for ransom. Like may other African countries, Burkino Faso has granted concessions to mining companies in areas where small-scale artisanal mining has traditionally helped to supplement the incomes of subsistence farmers. This provides an important source of revenue for governments, however, little of the money from such projects tends to reach local communities, which often leads to ill feeling and attempts to continue mining clandestinely, which can result in tension or even clashes between mine operators and local populations.

However the cause of the incident on this occasion does not appear to have been directly aimed at the gold industry itself, but rather to have been part of a widening campaign against the central government in Burkina Faso, in which economic assets and infrastructure are attacked as often as military targets. The two main militant groups in the area, Ansarul Islam and the Macina Liberation Front, both seek the re-establishment of the short-lived state of Macina, which occupied parts of what is now northern Burkina Faso, eastern Mali, and western Niger, between 1818 and 1862. Both groups claim both religious authority and to represent populations that are often ignored by central governments in their respective nations, but neither has, to date, sought to hold any territory or establish any form of alternative administration.

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