The Chairman of Africa Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG), Dele Alake, has appealed to local and regional authorities to immediately mobilise heavy excavation equipment and emergency resources to rescue miners trapped in the collapsed Al-Zaraa gold mining pit in West Kordofan, Sudan.
Alake, in a statement personally yesterday, expressed sorrow over the tragedy.
He emphasised that time was running out in rescuing the trapped miners.
According to the AMSG chairman, who is also Nigeria’s Minister of Solid Minerals Development, initial reports indicate that dozens of artisanal workers lost their lives and many others remain missing following the collapse. JoinDiaspora Networks
Highlighting the dire state of search-and-rescue efforts, Alake noted that local responders are currently forced to dig with rudimentary hand tools due to a critical lack of heavy machinery.
“All available regional and local resources must be urgently pooled to deploy heavy lifting and excavation equipment to the Al-Zaraa site to accelerate the search-and-rescue efforts and provide medical care to any survivors,” Alake said.
Describing the disaster as a “preventable crisis driven by structural vulnerability,” the AMSG chairman stressed that while informal mining provides a crucial economic lifeline for communities enduring conflict and hardship, human safety must take precedence over resource extraction.
“It is with profound shock, sorrow, and a heavy heart that the Africa Minerals Strategy Group receives the devastating reports of the mine collapse,” Alake stated, extending condolences to the victims’ families and the people of Sudan.
“While artisanal mining serves as a vital economic lifeline… it must never come at the cost of human dignity and safety. The total absence of structural engineering standards, safety gear, and regulatory oversight in such remote sites creates an unacceptable culture of risk.”
Moving beyond immediate rescue operations, the continental coalition called on African governments to accelerate the formalisation of artisanal and small-scale mining across the region. The group urged stakeholders to enforce basic safety standards, provide technical training, and institute regulatory oversight to protect vulnerable workers in high-risk zones.
“Human life must always supersede resource extraction. Vulnerable workers operating in conflict-affected or politically unstable regions must be protected from preventable structural hazards,” the statement read, reaffirming the group’s commitment to ensuring African minerals are processed with dignity, safety, and respect for human life.
