BETTING ON DUST: A VISIT TO AN ARTISANAL GOLD MINE

UNCLAS ABIDJAN 000194


DOL FOR TRASA, DGARMS
STATE FOR G/TIP VZEITLIN

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EMIN ECON IV
SUBJECT: BETTING ON DUST: A VISIT TO AN ARTISANAL GOLD MINE


1. (U) SUMMARY: Rural villages carry out artisanal gold
mining in northwestern Cote d'Ivoire. Yields are minuscule,
and mining operations are done by hand. Mines in the north
are still primarily under the control of the Forces
Nouvelles. Poloff visited the artisanal mining village of
Zievasso on March 10, but did not observe any young children
working in or near the mines. END SUMMARY


A LOT OF WORK FOR LITTLE PROFIT
--------------

2. (U) Poloff paid a visit on March 10 to the artisanal
mining village of Zievasso, located 15 km south of Odienne.
Tenan Kone, the Regional Director of Mines, had advance
notice of the visit, but the village chief and villagers
themselves did not. Zievasso is a tiny village with an
estimated 100 inhabitants, a small handful of whom were at
work during Poloff's visit. Because of the artisanal nature
of mining operations in this area, most mines are nothing
more than surface holes that have been dug out by hand. On
average, most are about 4 to 5 meters deep, though the
deepest hole in the Zievasso mine is approximately 12 meters.
Strong young men from the village are responsible for
excavating the sand from these surface holes. Afterwards,
the excavated sand goes through a several-step process,
including being fed through a small, antiquated blasting
machine, which turns the sand into fine dust. The dust is
then washed with water by hand (usually by village women) to
separate the tiny gold flecks from the sand particles.


3. (U) Mori, a local resident of Zievasso who sells gold
extracted from the mine, says that buyers pay him 7,500 CFA
(approximately $15 USD) for one gram of gold. He owns one of
several parcels of land that are being mined; other villagers
own the remaining parcels. Technically, parcel owners are
required to pay a 5 percent tax on any profits made from the
mine to the national government. However, the government has
not collected this tax since the political crisis that began
in 2002 with the rebellion of the Forces Nouvelles (FN),
which effectively split the country in half. Poloff was
accompanied on the visit by the Regional Director of Mines,
who said he had not visited Zievasso since 2002. In the
absence of government authorities, Forces Nouvelles soldiers
(FAFN) have collected taxes on the mine: Mori says he pays
somewhere between 80,000 to 100,000 CFA ($160 to 200 USD) to
the FAFN each year, although they did not ask him to pay the
tax this past year.


THE MOTHER LODE?
--------------

4. (U) Kone, a twenty-year veteran of the Ministry of
Mines, said the government believes there are significant
gold reserves in Cote d'Ivoire, mainly because there are
large gold mines in countries that border Cote d'Ivoire.
However, because first president Felix Houphouet-Boigny
prioritized agriculture over mining after the country's
independence in 1960, land in Cote d'Ivoire has not been
fully exploited for mining purposes, Kone said. Therefore,
the government has tried to keep the mining tax low - at 5
percent - in order to attract outside investors. Kone said a
few exploration permits that have been filed with his office
are currently pending. Foreign investors are welcome to file
permits, but only Ivoirians are allowed to engage in
artisanal mining. Kone said that, despite this restriction,
Guineans and Malians occasionally engage in mining activities
due to lack of enforcement of government regulations, and the
proximity of many small mines to Guinea and Mali.


THE CHILD LABOR QUESTION
--------------

5. (U) Poloff did not observe any young children working in
or near the mines in Zievasso. The regional mining director
said that children do not have the strength to dig through
rock-hard dirt or, in the case of larger mines, operate
boring tools and machinery, so they are not generally
involved in mining operations. If children are involved,
they help with washing dust to separate the gold flakes from
the sand. Kone said that village communities do not think it
is unusual for children to assist with this work, as it is
similar to washing and preparing rice, a common household
task children undertake. In Zievasso, Poloff only observed
one teenage girl, approximately 14 or 15 years of age,
washing sand in order to extract gold flakes. When asked,
she explained that she was doing the work in place of her
mother, who was sick that day.


6. (U) COMMENT: Although Poloff did not observe young
children working in the Zievasso mine, the mine is a
small-scale, local operation and therefore not necessarily
representative of common mining practices in Cote d'Ivoire.
Post will continue to visit gold mining operations in order
to provide further reporting on the sector's labor situation.
END COMMENT


AKUETTEH