(Ecofin Agency) - Talking last Sunday on the national TV station RTI about the programme for restructuring gold mining in Cote d’Ivoire, the Minister of Mining and Industry, Jean-Claude Brou announced that owners of lands who “sell their lands to illegal gold miners” would henceforth be prosecuted.

This way, the government aims to protect lands against the illegal miners. “Illegal gold miners are establishing themselves because some land owners permit it. From now on, those that will give out plots to be used without the government’s approval as well as persistent illegal miners will be prosecuted,” the minister said.

Revealing that “429 sites all over the nation had been closed and important equipment seized and destroyed”, the official added that all gold mining activities before being approved must be conform to the mining code. “The Ivorian mining code allows industrial, semi-industrial and artisanal mining. This however is reserved for Ivorians so they can tap into the riches of the sub-soil,” he explained.

Souha Touré