Seven goldminers killed in northwest Ethiopia

Sept 23, 2005 (ADDIS ABABA) — Seven traditional gold miners were killed in northwest Ethiopia after a pit which they were working in collapsed and buried them alive, a district spokesman said Friday.

The seven were among eight people who were excavating for gold in Tigray Shire district, some 1,150 kilometres (715 miles) northwest of the capital on Thursday, spokesman Hirut Abreha told reporters.

The eighth miner was rescued from the pit by colleagues, Hirut added.

The traditional gold miners usually dig pits or scour river beds in search of the precious metal, which they sell through black markets.

Ethiopia produces about four tonnes of gold per year, about one tonne of which the government estimates has been lost annually to black marketeers in neighbouring countries, India and the Middle East, since trade was banned in 1977 by the Soviet-backed regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam.

The country’s sole large-scale gold mine at Lege Dembi, 300 kilometers (185 miles) south of Addis Ababa, is owned by Saudi investor Sheikh Mohammed al-Mudi, who purchased it in a government privatization drive.