Indonesian gold mine collapse kills 3 people, 5 missing
On February 24, one of the gold mines in the Indonesian province of Central Sulawesi collapsed, as a result of which 3 people died, 5 more were missing. This was announced today by the Indonesian National Disaster Management Agency.
As follows from the statement published by the agency, on February 24, at a gold mine located in the Parigi-Moutong district, where local villagers were engaged in illegal mining, a landslide came down due to heavy downpours, resulting in the collapse of the adit. Many workers were trapped. As of 09:00 on February 25 local time, as a result of the tragedy, three people were killed, five were missing, and another 15 were rescued.
The statement notes that rescuers are currently conducting an emergency search for the missing, a large number of heavy equipment has been sent to the scene to participate in the rescue operation. As search and rescue operations continue, the death toll and casualties may rise.
Indonesia accounts for about 3% of world gold production. Most of this comes from the Grasberg mine in Papua province, which has a reported $ 40 billion in reserves and up to 20,000 workers.
Many parts of Asia and Africa are seeing an increase in small-scale, often unauthorized mining. A study by the Intergovernmental Forum on Extraction of Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development showed that the number of people involved in mining has grown to over 40 million, up from 30 million in 2014 and 6 million in 1993.