Reuters | August 22, 2022 |
Buritica project, Colombia. Image: Continental Gold
Zijin Mining is restarting normal production at its Colombia gold mine, a spokesperson said on Monday, after people from the surrounding community ended more than a week of road blockades.
The blockades were set up near the mine in Buritica municipality, in Antioquia province, on Aug. 12 as community members demanded a rescue mission to find informal miners allegedly trapped in a tunnel.
Despite several rescue missions, no bodies were handed over to authorities, but the town’s mayor has said two miners are believed to have died. The blockade was lifted on Sunday.
Normal work was being restarted, a Zijin spokesperson said in a message to Reuters, though they did not have information on when the mine would be back at full production.
Thousands of wildcat miners work in sometimes-deadly conditions in dozens of informal tunnels in Buritica, including many within or adjoining Zijin’s concession.
The activities, controlled by the Clan del Golfo crime gang, are a safety issue for the surrounding community and affect Zijin’s output, a Reuters investigation last year showed.
Zijin produced 196,493 ounces of gold last year and 294,581 of silver, according to its website.
Blockade at Zijin’s Colombia gold mine is lifted
Reuters | August 22, 2022
Reuters | August 22, 2022
The Buriticá project. Image by Continental Gold
Road blockades set up by community members around Zijin Mining’s Colombia gold mine were lifted, a government official said on Sunday, after more than a week of protests which hit the Chinese company’s production.
The blockades were set up around the mine in Buritica municipality on Aug. 12 to demand a rescue mission to find informal miners allegedly trapped in a tunnel.
It was not clear how many miners were presumed to be trapped or killed or what incident may have occurred in the tunnel, and despite several rescue missions, no bodies have been found.
“Mayor Hernando Graciano of the municipality of Buritica informs me that the blockade of the roads to the municipality and to the mine has been lifted,” Luis Fernando Suarez, security secretary of the Antioquia department, said on Twitter.
Production was stopped because of the blockades, the company had said.
A Zijin spokesperson said they had received the news and would later inform when “normal activities will resume.”
Thousands of wildcat miners work in sometimes-deadly conditions in dozens of informal tunnels in Buritica, including many within or adjoining Zijin’s concession.
The activities, controlled by the Clan del Golfo crime gang, are a safety issue for the surrounding community and affect Zijin’s output, a Reuters investigation last year showed.
(By Julia Symmes Cobb and Anthony Esposito; Editing by Lincoln Feast)
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