Inside Africa: Another 43 People Die In Mali’s Perilous Gold Mines
Open-pit mining is the most common way to extract resources around the world. Mineral deposits, which lie on the earth’s surface, are simply dug up, and shovel by shovel, a vast crater takes shape. There are many such pits in Mali, Africa’s second largest gold exporter after Ghana. Though they are often created by large-scale industrial equipment, many are also dug by hand. Once the extraction is completed, independent miners climb down to pick off smaller pieces of ore that have been left behind.
On Saturday 15th February 2025, a group of mostly women looked after scraps of gold left in an open-pit mine which, like many mines in Mali, had been dug in an artisanal fashion, presumably using shovels and pickaxes. As they were looting the pit of remaining gold, the “earth collapsed around them” in a landslide, and 43 people were killed.
The accident happened near Kéniéba, a mining town in western Mali, close to the country’s border with Senegal. In the surrounding area, the earth is scarred with dug up ground, artisanal pits and bore holes where many have sought fortune. Most are filled with rainwater, indicating their gold yield has been plundered out.
Gold Mining Near Kéniéba / Google Earth
It’s the second fatal incident from artisanal mining in Mali in the space of three weeks. In another gold mining region called Koulikoro, on Wednesday 29th January 2025, 13 miners also died in an open pit mine. The victims, including three children, were again mostly women, who had been digging for leftover gold in a mining tunnel, when the sluice gate from a nearby reservoir burst, and the muddy water came rushing down the shaft, flooding the tunnel.
Mali’s government has struggled for some time to enforce safer mining practices. A year ago, on the 19th January 2024, 70 people also lost their lives in an artisanal gold mine while digging in an isolated mining area.
These kinds of accidents are not uncommon. The conditions of mines are known to be dangerous because security procedures are often disregarded, and in non-industrial cases, digging is often done illegally, without permits. Mining conditions under these circumstances often come with old and unreliable equipment, and unsafe tunnelling, increasing the risk of a collapse.
Yet it remains the best way to earn a living for many Malians. Among the poorest countries on the continent, only 45% of Malians have access to basic sanitation, and only about 48% have access to electricity. Gold, which makes up 80% of Mali’s total exports, is the country’s biggest asset economically. The mining sector alone contributes to 21.5% of Mali’s state budget (roughly $1 billion). Both for locals living in territory where it can be mined, as well as the government, gold is the most precious resource.
Historically, Mali has lost out on most of the profits drawn from this wealth. Already during the colonial period, France established infrastructures which operated on an extractive principle, much of the resource wealth flowing straight from the mines into foreign pockets. Many, including Mali’s new government, which took power in a military coup back in 2021, argue that this system has persisted throughout the country’s post-independence history.
According to Lindani Zungu, “Mali loses about $580 million annually to illicit financial flows and corporate tax avoidance.” Much of this lies in the fact that, in previous decades, large international mining corporations operating in Mali have gotten away with underpaying the government a fair share of profits, presumably due to corruption of government officials.
Under the leadership of Assimi Goïta, originally a military colonel who fought Malian jihadists in the northern regions of the country, Mali’s new government is trying to change what was once status quo. In 2023, a new mining code drastically reshaped the country’s gold industry.
The new legislation enforces the payment of a fee from mining operators to local development, worth 0.75% of total quarterly revenues. It also restructures Mali’s mining licenses: Permits for exploration have been extended from a three-year period to nine years, and large mines can now also receive 12-year mining permits. These changes significantly extend the length of procedures, allowing more detailed and sustainable mining, as well as increasing the yield obtained from one permit.
Foreign companies are also being increasingly pressured into paying more fees. Notably Barrick Gold, Mali’s largest gold extractor, has had multiple clashes with the new government over not paying fees. Senior executives and employees of Barrick were arrested last year after the government claimed it was owed $500 million worth of taxes. Barrick’s CEO Mark Bristow was even issued an arrest warrant.
Barrick Gold strongly denies the accusations. In October 2024, Barrick paid $85 million to the government as a tax on its gold extractions. But Mali’s government has continually voiced its dissatisfaction with what it sees as an unfair stake in Barrick’s vast mining profits. More recently, Mali’s economy ministry claimed the company owed as much as $5.5 billion.
In a final straw act, on the 11th January 2025, Malian authorities seized the company’s gold reserves. Roughly 3 metric tons were taken from the Loulo-Gounkoto complex and flown out by helicopter. Fearing for its reserves, which have an estimated value of $245 million, the Canadian company suspended all mining operations in the country. The almost two-year feud was finally settled on February 19th, Barrick agreeing to pay a hefty $438 million in exchange for the arrested employees, and the confiscated gold.
Another company, Resolute Mining, has faced similar challenges. Three executives from the Australian company were detained in November 2024 after the Malian government claimed the company owed $160 million in taxes. Resolute Mining paid the amount and updated its mining agreement with the government to increase Mali’s share of gold revenues.
Yet, industrial gold production dropped in Mali by 23% in 2024, from 66.5 tons in 2023 down to 51 tons. It’s speculated that the mining code is among the principal reasons. The government’s staunch approach on policing mining procedures could have had a detrimental effect on productivity, especially among foreign companies who take the hardest blow, yet also extract the most gold. Barrick Gold for instance, which produced 19.4 tons in 2024, ceased production before the end of the year in December, missing out on an extra 1.7-ton extraction which was forecasted for the final month of the year.
Though a crackdown on foreign mining companies extracting gold may see Mali’s government receive more money, this doesn’t necessarily mean Mali’s people will also benefit. Over a year has passed since the new mining code was introduced, yet Malian’s are still digging for gold across the Kayes and Koulikoro regions, hoping under high-risk conditions, the earth will bring them fortune. For some, the risk is fatal.
