By Martha Agas
The Africa Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG) has called for urgent safety reforms in Africa’s mining sector, particularly to strengthen occupational standards for miners.
The AMSG Chairman, Dele Alake, made the call in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja on Thursday.
The chairman’s call is following reports of a mine collapse at the informal Al-Zaraa gold mine near Al-Nuhud town in West Kordofan, Sudan.
The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports that scores of artisanal miners were killed and many trapped after a series of adjoining mining shafts collapsed at Al-Zaraa mine on Tuesday.
Alake said while artisanal mining serves as a vital economic lifeline for communities weathering severe conflict and economic hardship, it must never come at the cost of human dignity and safety.
According to him, the total absence of structural engineering standards, safety gear, and regulatory oversight in such remote sites creates an unacceptable culture of risk.
“The severe constraints on rescue operations, where survivors and local responders are forced to rely on rudimentary hand tools due to a lack of heavy excavation machinery compound this tragedy,” he said.
He urged authorities across Africa to prioritise miners’ safety and accelerate efforts to formalise artisanal and informal mining operations within a regulated framework.
“Governments, regional bodies, and industry stakeholders must cooperate to provide training, basic safety enforcement, and institutional oversight to safeguard workers.
“Human life must always supersede resource extraction. Vulnerable workers operating in conflict-affected or politically unstable regions must be protected from preventable structural hazards,” he said.
He called for immediate rescue mobilisation and reaffirmed AMSG’s commitment to maximising the value, sustainability and responsible management of Africa’s mineral wealth.
He also called for urgent mobilisation of regional and local resources to deploy heavy lifting and excavation equipment to accelerate rescue efforts and provide medical care to survivors.
The AMSG Chairman condoled with the bereaved families in Kordofan and reaffirmed the group’s commitment to promoting policies that ensure African minerals were mined, managed and processed with dignity, safety and respect for human life.
“On behalf of the leadership and member states of the AMSG, I extend our deepest, heartfelt condolences to the families, loved ones and communities of the artisanal miners who tragically lost their lives.
“I also condoled with the people and authorities of Sudan,” he said.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
Edited by Gabriel Yough