CAR Closes Zamboyé Gold Mine After Landslide Kills Over 100, as Pope Leo XIV Prays
Updated
Updated · Crux Now · Aug 23
CAR Closes Zamboyé Gold Mine After Landslide Kills Over 100, as Pope Leo XIV Prays
3 articles · Updated · Crux Now · Aug 23
Summary
More than 100 people died after a landslide hit the open-pit gold mine in Zamboyé on Aug. 18, prompting Pope Leo XIV on Sunday to pray for the victims and urge safer, legal mining.
Heavy rain soaked a large mound of excavated mud at the site, causing it to crack and collapse onto hundreds of artisanal miners working for small quantities of gold, according to the mayor of nearby Garoua-Boulai.
Saturday's closure order cited the mine's non-compliance with regulatory procedures; the site sits in western Nana-Mambéré Prefecture near the Cameroon border.
The disaster has renewed scrutiny of artisanal and often illegal mining in the region, days after 14 miners were killed in a separate South African mine collapse.
Could shutting down non-compliant mines actually endanger the vulnerable communities Pope Leo XIV prayed for by eliminating their only source of income?
Despite a new mining code, why did CAR's opaque gold rush just claim 100 lives, and who truly profits from these deadly sites?