At least nine illegal Zim miners die after mine collapses

File picture: African News Agency (ANA)

File picture: African News Agency (ANA)

Published May 27, 2019

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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. 

Reuters

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