Mexico’s proposed higher mining royalties could block nearly $7bn in investments
The Mexican government proposed raising mining royalties under the argument that metal prices have risen in recent years.
The Montreal Gazette reported this morning that a landslide at a gold mine in northern Democratic Republic of the Congo has left 60 people dead.
In speaking to the Guardian, UN-based Radio Okapi said that the mine shaft collapsed Monday after “. . . illegal miners rushed to be the first in the bottom of the pit but the sides collapsed, burying them all.”
Rescue efforts have been impeded as the area is encased in a dense jungle reported to be controlled by local militia.
Illegal mining is a common problem within poor regions of the DR Congo as men and women put themselves in danger in an attempt to eke out a living.
Recently Harmony Gold began enforcing a ban that prohibits any food being brought underground.
The drastic step, as reported by Reuters, is to “cut supply lines to gangs of illegal miners used to staying deep in the mines for months on end, threatening lives and official production.”
The collapsed mine had been abandoned after clashes between the area’s militia and the Congolese army made the area uninhabitable.
5 Comments
Schalk
The Harmony mine mentioned is in South Africa and has nothing to do with the mines in the DRC.
josh zapf
Very true, I was referencing that story as it also deals
with illegal mining.
A mining engineer
”
first in the bottom of the pit ” so it is an open pit – yet you state a shaft collapsed… If you don’t know the basics of mining why are you assistant editor of a mining news site?!
^
I see now, because you copy and pasted from the guardian’s website. Good effort.
josh zapf
I think by pit they meant a deep, dark hole – an artificial cavity; rather, than
the wide open excavation process.