As of Wednesday, 43 gold mining locations were to be shut down for “security concerns” by the Boucle du Mouhoun authorities in northwest Burkina Faso, a region beset by Islamist violence.
Babo Pierre Bassinga, the regional governor, listed 43 “artisanal gold mining” locations in 13 communes as being shut down “until further notice” in an order dated February 27th and released on Wednesday.
“This is a response to the necessity to restrict or even eliminate the transit of explosives on these artisanal sites, which is frequently redirected to the benefit of armed terrorist groups,” a security source in the area who was reached by AFP revealed.
The insider stated, “It is also a matter of drying off the sources of income of these organizations, some of whom hold to ransom the mining sites that are beyond the jurisdiction of the state.
Criminal penalties will be applied to anyone who violates the decree’s rules, according to Bassinga.
Attacks carried out by jihadist organizations affiliated with al-Qaeda or the Islamic State frequently result in fatalities in the Boucle du Mouhoun region, which borders Mali.
A dynamite stockpile explosion at an artisanal gold mine in western Burkina Faso killed nearly 60 people a year earlier.
In the past 12 years, legal gold mine production has surpassed cotton as Burkina Faso’s top export good, producing about 70 tons annually.
The Ministry of Mines estimates that the artisanal sector produces an additional 10 tons of gold per year.