* Photographs taken from the social media accounts of miners in the region
Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish
As reported by Liselotte Mas from France 24, a row erupted between the workers of Turkey-based MNG Gold mining company and local mining workers in Burkina Faso on the night of August 7.
One day after this row in Youga region of Burkina Faso, the local miners who continued extracting gold in the area found the dead body of a man.
While it has been reported that the deceased men was also a local miner, a group of around 100 people started marching towards the mining site of MNG Gold after the funeral ceremony.
* Mining site / Google Earth
Villagers marched to the mining site
Speaking to the Observers team of France 24, the Bukinabe Minister of Mines has stated that the villagers set fire to several machines and dormitories in the mining site, partially destroying them, and ransacked the offices of the company management.
An employee at the mine named Issouf G witnessed the attack; however, he shared what he witnessed under the condition of remaining anonymous since he is afraid of its possible consequences for his career.
After the attack on the mining site, the Bukinabe Minister of Security has made a call for calm. Stating that people were wounded in the incident and that there was "significant material damage", he has not given further details about the damage inflicted by the villagers.
Investigation into miner's death
The Minister has also added that a suspect was taken into custody as part of the investigation launched into the local miner's death.
'Simmering resentment for the Turkish subcontractor'
Observers has further reported that discontent with the management of the Turkey-based company has been simmering throughout the community over the last weeks, adding that "the gold digger's death was just the final straw."
Citing an article from the journal L'économiste du Faso, the website has informed that from April to June 2019, around 500 people lost their jobs at the mine, sharing the details that while some of these people were dismissed, the contracts of some were not renewed.
It has been also indicated in the news, "In a move to save money, Burkina Mining Company also brought in a Turkish subcontractor called Orkun Group Sarl, which hired about a hundred Turkish workers."
About MNG GoldAccording to the LinkedIn page of the company, it was founded in 2013 and has been operating in Africa with its over 1,500 workers to explore, develop and extract gold. The company first bought the Liberia-Kokoya project from the Amlib United Minerals in 2014, then the Burkina Faso-Balogo project from the Golden Rim Resources in 2015 and Burkina Faso-Youga Gold Mine from the Endeavour Mining company. The company also purchases 55-percent share of Liberia-centered gold producer Aureus Mining company in 2016. On the page of the company, it also refers to itself as "a gold mining company of Turkey with international criteria" and underlines that "it embraces it as its principles to use the most developed technologies of the sector, to ensure the standards of occupational safety and health, to contribute to the development of Turkey, to bring welfare to local community and to respect environment and nature in all its operations." |
(PT/SD)
* Source: France 24 Observers
