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Trevali to close Burkina Faso zinc mine after deadly flood
Reuters | September 23, 2022 |

Perkoa is located about 120km from Burkina Faso’s capital city of Ouagadougou. (Image courtesy of Trevali Mining.)

Canadian mining firm Trevali will close its Perkoa zinc mine in Burkina Faso, a company official told Reuters on Friday, following a flood at the mine in April that killed eight workers.


The miners drowned in the underground passages of the mine in Sanguie province after unexpected torrential rain during the West African country’s dry season.

The mine, one of Trevali’s three main operating assets, has been closed since.

“The funds still available…are insufficient to complete the rehabilitation of the mine,” said Ditil Moussa Palenfo, country director of Nantou Mining, the Trevali entity that owns Perkoa.

“Funds are barely sufficient to cover severance pay for terminated employees.”

A court in Burkina Faso last week handed out suspended sentences to two executives after finding them guilty of involuntary manslaughter for the flood disaster.

That came just weeks after the company announced it was halting trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

(By Anne Mimault and Edward McAllister; Editing by Chris Reese and Josie Kao)

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