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.

Burkina 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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Militant group kills eleven miners in Pakistan.

Eleven coal miners have been killed in an attack on a mining camp in the Bolan District of Balochistan Province in Pakistan. The men were part of a group of fifteen miners who were attacked in a residential block at the mine, and had their hands and feet tied before having their throats cut. Four other miners survived the attack and are described as being in a 'critical condition' in a hospital in Macch. Responsibility for the attack has been claimed by the Islamic State group, and it is believed the attack was sectarian in nature, targeting the miners because they belonged to the Shi’ite Hazara minority rather than because of the mine's activities.

 

Ambulances arrive at a hospital in Macch, Balochistan, carrying survivors of a terrorist attack that targeted a coal mine in the province. EPA.

This is the first terrorist attack in Balochistan since April, when a suicide bomber killed 18 people, again in an attack aimed at the Hazara minority. However, such attacks have been a growing problem for the past decade, with Islamic State, the Taliban, and other militant Sunni Groups targeting Shia Muslims in Balochistan. The situation is made more complicated by another insurgency being waged by Balochistan nationalists, who wish to unite Balochistan Province with Sistan and Baluchestan Province in Iran and the Balochistan region of southern Afghanistan into a new, independent, state, and who sometimes carry out attacks on projects such as mines, which they see as exploiting the region's wealth for the benefit of outside interests. 

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Seventeen killed in attack on Virunga National Park.

Seventeen people, described as twelve park rangers and five civilians, have been killed in an attack near the Virunga National Park's headquarters at Bukima in North Kivu Province, Democratic Republic of Congo, on Friday 24 April 2020. The rangers were reportedly investigating an attack on a civilian vehicle, when they themselves came under attack from a group of about 60 armed militiamen. In addition to the deaths another two civilians and three rangers were injured, one of whom is described as being in a critical condition. The attackers are believed to have belonged to the Forces Combattantes Abacunguzi, and armed group affiliated with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, a group which has controlled the southwestern part of the park since fleeing Rwanda after losing the civil war of 1994. The Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda control a lucrative charcoal industry in the parts of the park they control, and are rumoured to be protected by powerful contacts within the national army, but the park's authorities have recently begun to try to re-assert their authority in the area. The park has been closed to tourists since May 2018, due to attacks by armed groups.

A vehicle used by Virungu National Park Rangers that came under attack by militiamen on Friday 24 April 2020. Noel Kambanda/Twitter.

The civil war in Rwanda in 1994 led to hundreds of thousands of refugees to flee into eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, destabilising the area and helping to trigger the Congolese civil war of 1996-2003 which killed an estimated five million people, and destroyed much of what little infrastructure existed in the east of the country. This situation was further exasperated by refugees and militia groups fleeing conflicts in South Sudan and Uganda, and by military incursions by several neighbouring countries seeking access to the area's rich reserves of gold and coltan minerals.

This has led to a situation where much of the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo was in the hands of a variety of militia groups, many of which also control mining encampments, and are at least in part dependent on bushmeat (hunted game) for sustenance. Against this background the Congolese parks authorities have struggled to re-assert their authority in the region, with more than 150 rangers from the Institut Congolais pourla Conservation de la Nature having been killed in action over the past 20 years.

 A civilian vehicle targeted by members of the Forces Combattantes Abacunguzi in order to lure Rangers from the Virungu National Park into an ambush on Friday 24 April 2020. Noel Kambanda/Twitter.

The Virunga National Park formerly derived about 20% of its income from tourism, with the rest coming from international donors, but these tourists have become a focus for militia activity, as they are seen as wealthy foreigners from which money can be obtained.

The Rangers killed in Friday's attack have been named as Kadhafi Abedi, 23, Lumumba Anuari, 27, Djamali Badi, 27, Junior Fazili, 29, Jean-Louis Kambale, 28, Joseph Kasole, 30, Augustin Mugisho, 27, Jeannot Muhindo, 30, Jacques Muhindo, 29, Hértier Ndagijimana, 27, and Moise Paluku, 30. Only one of the civilians killed had been identified so far, Ruphin Masumbuko, believed to have been the driver of the vehicle.

 Lumumba Anuari, 27, one of twelve park rangers killed in an attack by militiamen on workers at the Virungu National Park on Friday 24 April 2020. Honorable D'jessy M'boma/Facebook.

The Fallen Rangers Fund collects funds internationally to help support the families of Rangers killed in the line of duty within the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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Unexpectedly large herd of Elephants sighted in Borno State, Nigeria.

A large herd comprising around 250 African Bush Elephants, Loxodonta africana, has been spotted close to the town of Rann in Borno State, northeastern Nigeria. The sighting was made from a helicopter operated by the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service that was delivering supplies in the area on 19 December 2019. Northeastern Nigeria was known to be home to several hundred Elephants until about ten years ago, when Boko Haram insurgents set up camps in the Sambisa Forest Game Reserve, a key environment and part of the annual migration route of the Elephants. In the decade since that time the area has been a subjected to repeated fighting between the insurgents and the Nigerian military, including aerial bombardments and extensive use of artillery, things generally thought to be adverse to Elephant survival. However the discovery of a large Elephant herd in Borno suggests that Elephants have not just survived in the area but flourished, with the discovery roughly doubling the known Elephant population of Nigeria, according to Tunde Marokinyo of Africa Nature Investors.

A large herd of African Bush Elephants, Loxodonta africana, spotted in Borno State, Nigeria, on 19 December 2019. United Nations Humanitarian Air Service

Elephants are considered to be threatened across Africa, due to a combination of hunting, principally for the value of their tusks, and habitat loss, with the population across the continent thought to have dropped from 3-5 million in 1900 to about 415 000 today, and about 50% of Elephant-suitable land having disappeared since 1970. The population of Elephants in Nigeria has not been surveyed properly in the last decade, due to the running civil war in the area, but is thought to have been subjected to heavy poaching, based upon seizures of ivory in other countries that is thought to have originated in Nigeria. 

On Tuesday 24 December authorities in Vietnam revealed that they had confiscated 330 kg of ivory being smuggled in three shipping containers from Nigeria, along with 1700 kg of Pangolin scales, another lucrative, but illegal, wildlife product.

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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 Burkina 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, Burkina 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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Iranian oil tanker leaking oil into the Red Sea after being hit by two missiles.

An Iranian oil tanker is leaking oil into the Red Sea after being hit by two missiles on at about 5.00 am local time on Friday 11 October 2019. The National Iranian Tanker Company owned Sabiti was reportedly about 100 km off the coast of the Saudi Arabian port of Jeddah at the time of the incident, although the tanker had turned off its tracking equipment since August, something routinely done by Iranian tankers to prevent them from being tracked by the US, which has imposed economic sanctions on Iran. The authorities in Iran have blamed the attack on 'terrorists' but not directly accused any political organisation or nation of being behind the attack. Nobody was hurt in the incident, and the crew were initially able to halt the loss of oil from the tanker, but the vessel began leaking again once it started to move.

Oil leaking from the Iranian tanker Sabiti into the Red Sea. IRIB TV/AFP.

This incident is the latest in a series of attacks on Iranian tankers this summer, part of a deteriorating diplomatic situation between Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United States. The United States has accused Iran of attacking oil tankers and shooting down one of its military drones, while Saudi Arabia blames Iran for an attack on the Saudi Aramco Oil Refinery in September, which Iran denies. Relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia have been poor for decades, but have deteriorated in recent years as the countries have backed different sides in the conflicts in Yemen and Syria. The US has accused tankers such as the Sabiti of smuggling oil to Syria, where Iran is a key ally of the government of President Bashar al-Assad, although Iran also exports oil to Russia (also an ally of the government of President Bashar al-Assad) and the EU through the Red Sea.

Oil spills are potentially harmful to marine life in a variety of ways. Most obviously it can coat the outside of organisms, causing damage to external structures such as the feathers of Birds and fur of Mammals, as well as smothering many marine invertebrates and plants. It also contains a variety of chemicals which can be directly toxic upset the hormonal balance of many animals. Oil also impedes the feeding of marine organisms, coating both food and feeding organs, but provides an excellent food source for Bacteria, which can lead to Eutrophication events - dramatic increases in Bacteria numbers, which then use all the oxygen in the water, leading other organisms to asphyxiate.

The Red Sea is considered to be a biodiversity hotspot, having a unique fauna with many endemic species (species not found elsewhere). This has been able to develop due to the Red Sea's relative isolation, being connected to the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean by the shallow Strait of Bab al-Mandab, which is prone to variations in temperature and salinity that present a barrier to many marine organisms. The Red Sea has a unique deep-sea environment, where the waters remain constantly at about 22°C and have a salinity of about 40‰ (compared to about 35‰ for most seawater). This has led to the development of a vast reef system with many organisms unlike anything found anywhere else. Unfortunately, high shipping levels since the opening of the Suez Canal have led to many problems for this ecosystem, both from pollution and alien organisms carried on the sides and in the ballast tanks of ships, and decades of political instability and conflict in the nations around the Red Sea have meant that much of the area is poorly studied or protected.

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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 Burkina 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, Burkina 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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