The Central African Republic has closed the Zamboye gold mine after a deadly collapse, citing regulatory violations

The Central African Republic’s government on Saturday closed down a gold mining site that killed more than 100 people when it collapsed earlier this week, citing non-compliance with regulatory procedures.

Ruffin Benam Beltoungou, the minister of mines and geology, announced the closure of the Zamboye site in the western part of the country. He cited “non-compliance with mining standards and non-compliance with administrative directives,” as an investigation into the collapse of the gold mine continues.

Several other people were injured in the collapse.

The gold mine collapse was the latest mining disaster in the mineral-rich Central African nation. Disasters such as this are common where a significant part of the population depends on small-scale extraction mining for livelihood. They are exposed to high risk because miners don’t have enough protection. Regulation of the mines is weak, regularly leading to deadly outcomes.

A search for survivors by local workers was hampered by a lack of expertise and equipment for the scale of the disaster. The Zamboye site was already closed before the accident, but illegal miners still worked there.

“It is obvious and quite natural for the minister to take this decision, but the illegal gold miners were mining outside the legal framework,” Quentin Ngbouando, leader of the civil society organisation, I Gwe, said.