Mauritania’s President, Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, has urgently called on gold prospectors to observe strict safety measures following the collapse of two mines in the Tiris region, Northern Mauritania.
Recent mine collapses during gold excavations have led to numerous casualties and injuries, primarily due to inadequate safety standards and poor rescue means. There are growing demands for the government to create a safer environment for miners and prevent the recurrence of such incidents. These accidents in Northern Mauritania’s gold prospecting wells have repeatedly resulted in several victims, underscoring the absence of proper safety and security measures. Miners often resort to primitive methods to extract rocks containing gold from deep within the Earth.
Despite governmental pleas urging miners to adopt safety measures and to end chaotic practices during the extraction of the precious metal, these calls seem to have fallen on deaf ears. The series of mine-collapse incidents continue, with the death toll rising.
Local mining unions point out the lack of governmental oversight and the inadequacy of rescue resources as reasons behind the recurrence of these tragedies. However, the government attributes it to the miners’ behavior, accusing them of consistently ignoring safety guidelines.
The question now is whether the latest appeals from the Mauritanian president will unify efforts from both parties to address this crisis. To discuss further, Hamdy Ould Amar, President of the National Union of Workers and Investors in Mining, joins us from Nouakchott for a Maghreb segment.
