Hundreds of miners leave Mali gathering site after expulsion from Guinea
Malian authorities said around 160,000 people had arrived following expulsions from Guinea, where a crackdown on illegal mining is underway.
Hundreds of gold miners expelled from Guinea have begun leaving a mine in neighboring Mali where they had assembled. Buses and trucks are transporting them from the gathering point, where men waited with luggage or boarded arriving vehicles.
Mali's authorities said on November 7 that they had received around 160,000 people since Guinea began the expulsions. They also reported six deaths and expressed concern about a humanitarian emergency.
In Guinea, authorities arrested 1,263 people suspected of gold panning during an operation against illegal mining, according to a joint statement by the defense and security ministries. Those detained included nationals of Guinea, Burkina Faso, Mali, Togo, Niger, Ivory Coast and Ghana.
The arrests followed a prohibition on clandestine and unregulated mining that took effect on November 2 in Siguiri, a northeastern region important to Guinea's gold production.
Guinea has substantial gold and bauxite resources. Authorities are seeking to limit environmental damage linked to artisanal gold mining, including degraded land and polluted waterways.
