According to officials, a minimum of 32 people lost their lives at a cobalt and copper mine in the DR Congo on Sunday. The deaths occurred after the miners overcrowded a temporary bridge built to enable miners cross a flooded trench.
Roy K. Mayonde, the interior minister of Lualaba Province, revealed that the deaths occurred at Kalondo mine. An order had previously been issued halting operations at the mine due to concerns about the heavy rain at the time and the risk that a landslide could occur. However, the miners defied this order and went to the mine on the fateful day.
Currently, the mine is officially run by licensed Chinese operators, but artisanal miners, locally referred to as wildcat miners, also claim the location and conduct mining activities there. On that day, the wildcat miners were confronted by soldiers deployed at the site. When gunfire rang out, the miners rushed to the bridge and this caused it to become overcrowded and overloaded since it is a makeshift bridge.
The panicked miners overloaded the bridge and caused it to collapse under their weight. As the bridge caved in, the miners piled onto each other in the debris and this led to the fatalities and serious injuries suffered by the survivors. While the provincial official put the deaths at 32, other reports say at least 40 individuals died during the incident.
The human rights commission in the province says there has been a longstanding conflict between the formal operators at the mine and a group of about 10,000 artisanal miners that formed a cooperative to unite them in asserting their claim to the mining area.
Human rights advocates are asking that a formal independent investigation be conducted regarding the incident to inquire into what role the military played in this tragedy since many accounts cite clashes that took place between the soldiers at the site and the wildcat miners as triggering the stampede that resulted in the deaths.
It should be noted that the DRC is currently the largest cobalt producer globally and Chinese firms command 80% of the mining of this metal in the country. Cobalt is used to manufacture EV batteries and other manufactured goods. For long, accusations of unsafe mining conditions, corruption and child labor have plagued mining operations in the country.
The bridge collapse serves as a stark reminder of the dangers inherent in mining, and exploration companies like Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. (TSX.V: BAY) (OTCQB: ATBHF) with operations in other regions of the world will pick valuable lessons on these risks and why it is important to proactively address those hazards rather than responding after the fact.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. (TSX.V: BAY) (OTCQB: ATBHF) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/ATBHF
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