HARARE - At least nine illegal gold miners
have died in Zimbabwe after they detonated explosives
underground and were trapped at a mine owned by unlisted
London-headquartered Metallon Corporation north of the capital
Harare, the company said on Monday.
Metallon put its Mazowe Mine on care and maintenance last
September, citing viability problems.
One of Zimbabwe's biggest
gold producers, it still operates three other mines.
Metallon said in a statement the mine collapse happened on
Sunday when illegal miners gained access to underground shafts
and blasted explosives.
"Tragically nine panners lost their lives. None of these
miners were employees of Metallon and all those involved with
keeping the mine on care and maintenance have been accounted
for," Metallon said.
At least 24 people died in February when underground shafts
were flooded at two abandoned mines in Battlefield, which is to
the west of Harare.
With formal unemployment above 80 percent, thousands of
young men risk their lives daily working in dangerous
underground tunnels in search of gold, Zimbabwe's largest
mineral export earner.
The southern African nation has been working to regulate
thousands of people who illegally dig for gold everywhere,
including on farms and abandoned mines, mostly under the cover
of darkness.