- Konkera Sa was set on fire by angry gold miners
- It is not the first time the mine has had problems with gold miners
- Before the tragedy, the government was considering withdrawing the permit for non-compliance with the law
On 29 November 2022, scuffles between gold miners on the outskirts of the Konkera mine and the police guarding the mine resulted in casualties.
According to a local source, one gold miner was shot dead. Three other gold miners were injured as well as a police officer. The same source said that the entire mine camp was set on fire by the angry gold miners.
It is not the first time Konkera Sa has had problems with gold miners.
The government awarded the industrial exploitation permit for a large gold mine to the company Konkera SA, in the commune of Batié, province of Noumbiel, South-West region on 5 March 2015 (decree N°2015-227/PRES-TRANS/PM/MME/MEF/MERH). The permit covers an area of 64.34 Km2 with a duration of 20 years but can be renewed for consecutive periods of 5 years until the deposits within the perimeter are exhausted. The permit, located 450km from Ouagadougou, was held by Ampella Mining Company, which transferred it to Centramin. It was planned to build an open-pit mine, a processing plant, a maintenance unit, a power station, internal roads, a dam with a capacity of 1.5 million cubic metres, etc.
However, Konkera SA has had difficulty in starting construction of the mine due to the delay in the technical and economic work to finalise the project development plan. This delay had an impact on the raising of funds on the international financial market. Another difficulty encountered by Konkera SA is the delay by the State in signing the mining convention. Indeed, the mining convention was signed on 26 February 2019, i.e. 47 months after the exploitation permit was awarded, whereas the decree governing the management of mining authorisations and titles indicates that the mining convention must be signed no later than 6 months after the permit was awarded.
Another difficulty with this mining project is the limitation of financial resources devoted to the exploration activity. In view of all these difficulties, the company has decided to lay off some of its staff until the situation improves.
While waiting to solve its fundraising problems, several investors were interested in the licence before abandoning it. In view of the delay in the construction of the mine, the government has given several considerations to withdrawing the permit because Konkera SA did not respect the deadlines set for the construction of the mine.
Konkera SA’s difficulties do not end there. The mine has always had a difficult cohabitation with the gold miners living on the perimeter of the mine. It is in this context that the situation of 29 November 2022 occurred, unfortunately with one death.
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