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January 30, 2006

Gold mining in Burkina Faso

It seems everyone is discovering gold in Burkina Faso these days: SEMAFO have upped their estimate of the gold in their Mana site by 62% from 542 000 ounces to 877,200. Gold Rush and High River are likewise anticipating further riches from Burkina gold. And Orezone, the company now running the Essakane mine near Gorom-Gorom, have also found more gold than expected at some of their sites. Unless I am mistaken, all these companies are Canadian.

Gold mines - a blessing for who?
While some rich people are doubtless set to increase their fortunes, I wonder what the impact will be for Burkina and for the local people? Potentially it could benefit the country enormously, but of course it is not always the case. Mining has been a controversial subject in Burkina Faso and elsewhere in Africa. Events in Ghana, South Africa, Namibia, Sierra Leone, and other places have highlighted common problems in mining, inlcuding impact on local populations and the environment, poorly treated workforces, corruption, and how the profits of the mine do not always benefit the local people or area.

The manganese mine in Tambao, north of Gorom-Gorom has good quality ore and huge potential, but the project has been on and off for years - currently off, I believe. We heard many stories, and as the project was running, we saw workers shipped in from the capital, and trucks shipping the mountain back down south bith by bit. Some locals were profiting from providing services, but then the work stopped and the trucks disappeared. I have guesses, but no real idea why.

Gold mining by hand
Gold in Burkina was until recently largely mined by hand. Essakane, close to where I lived for many years, was a source of hope for hundreds of families. When gold was found there, a small gold town grew up, with all the accompanying problems of sickness, crime, prostitution (and therefore AIDS of course) etc. Men would hand-dig tunnels many meters deep and long, working ridiculous hours, sustained often by amphetamines and kola nuts more than food. Sometimes the tunnels would collapse, killing the men inside.

It was a desolate place, a moonscape, yet for many famlies in the least developed part of the third poorest country in the world, it offered some hope of a better life. Once the harvest was in, people would leave their villages to try their luck at the gold mines. Unfortunately of course, it rarely worked out that way, and there were stories of some who both made and lost their fortune there. For most it was scraping an existence from the ground.

Gold mining and ethics
Now Essakane is being run by Orezone. As I understand it, those digging by hand had to leave, and the site is being run exclusively by the company. Now, part of me is not sad to see the appalling conditions of the manual gold hunters come to an end. And yet, it was one option among very few for people in this region. I would be sorry if hope was once again snatched from them with nothing to replace it. Orezone of course has its business to run, but I hope that their investment into the development of the region is more than a nominal gift of a well or food aid now and again. People's lives have been affected by the company's arrival, and it should not be that the result is that a few benefit while the vast majority of the poorest and most vulnerable are left once more with no options.

A meeting in Toronto in 2002 aimed to develop an ethical code for mining looking at many of these issues. I only hope that an ethical framework is in place that will enable both local people and the country of Burkina Faso to benefit fully from the much-needed riches discovered in her soil.

Tags: burkina faso africa gold burkina gorom-gorom mining manganese poverty

Posted by Keith at January 30, 2006 12:56 PM

Comments

Posted by: wilsonian at February 1, 2006 12:29 AM

Posted by: Karama Neal at February 1, 2006 03:32 PM