Africa Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG), chaired by former Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, has called for urgent safety reforms in artisanal mining following the collapse of an informal gold mine in West Kordofan, Sudan.
The group also called for the immediate mobilisation of heavy excavation and lifting equipment to intensify rescue efforts at the Al-Zaraa gold mine near Al-Nuhud town, where dozens of miners were reportedly killed, and others remain missing.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the AMSG expressed condolences to the families, loved ones and communities of the artisanal miners who lost their lives in the incident, as well as to the people and authorities of Sudan.
The group said the reported collapse of interconnected shafts in loose terrain highlighted the dangerous conditions confronting millions of informal and artisanal miners across Africa.
According to the AMSG, while artisanal mining provides an important source of livelihood for communities facing conflict and economic hardship, it should not be carried out at the expense of workers’ safety and human dignity.
It identified the absence of structural engineering standards, adequate safety equipment, and effective regulatory oversight at remote mining sites as factors contributing to the risks faced by artisanal miners.
The group also expressed concern over the reported difficulties in rescue operations, saying survivors and local responders were relying on rudimentary hand tools because of a lack of heavy excavation machinery.
The AMSG called on relevant authorities to urgently pool regional and local resources and deploy heavy lifting and excavation equipment to the Al-Zaraa site to accelerate the search for survivors and provide medical care to those rescued.
Beyond the immediate rescue operation, the group urged governments, regional bodies and industry stakeholders across Africa to accelerate the formalisation of artisanal and informal mining activities.
It called for greater access to training, basic safety enforcement and institutional oversight to protect miners working outside formal regulatory structures.
‘Human life must always supersede resource extraction,’ the AMSG said, stressing the need to protect vulnerable workers, particularly those operating in conflict-affected and politically unstable regions, from preventable structural hazards.
The group said it remained in solidarity with families affected by the Kordofan tragedy and reaffirmed its commitment to policies aimed at ensuring that Africa’s minerals are mined, managed, and processed with safety, dignity, and respect for human life.