* Mine is in remote rebel-held territory
* Small-scale mine operations lack safety precautions
* Efforts ongoing to stamp out ‘conflict minerals’ trade
By Jonny Hogg
KINSHASA, Aug 16 (Reuters) – At least 60 miners were killed
when a shaft collapsed in a remote part of northeastern
Democratic Republic of Congo, where local armed groups
complicated rescue efforts, officials said on Thursday.
The local miners were digging for gold in shafts up to 100
metres (109 yards) underground when the accident occurred on
Monday in Mambasa territory in Orientale Province, said Simon
Pierre Bolombo, the provincial head of mines.
He said the collapse had been caused by a landslide.
“It was deep in the forest, there was a landslide, at least
60 people have been killed,” Bolombo told Reuters by telephone
from the town of Bunia in northeast Congo.
Congo’s minister of mines, Martin Kabwelulu, told Reuters
the workers were there illegally and that their shafts were
deeper than the 30-metre (32-yard) limit required by the mining
code for small-scale mining.
Continued…
