Women in Mining Africa (WiM-Africa) has called for sweeping reforms across Africa’s artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector following a series of fatal incidents in Mali, Ghana and Nigeria.
In a special newsletter signed by its Executive Director, Dr. Comfort Asokoro-Ogaji, the organisation said the recurring loss of lives exposed systemic weaknesses in the sector, including unsafe mining practices, abandoned pits, weak emergency response, inadequate formalisation and gaps in regulatory enforcement.
“Africa now needs operational reform—not another cycle of tragedy, condolences and temporary reaction,” WiM-Africa said.
The organisation cited several recent incidents. In Mali, at least 43 people, mostly women, were reported killed in the Bilalikoto/Kéniéba artisanal gold-mining disaster in February 2025, although some reports put the death toll at 48. WiM-Africa subsequently established the Silent 15 of Bilalikoto initiative in memory of the victims.
In Ghana, more than 20 miners were reported trapped and feared dead in July 2025 after a gold-mining pit at Akyem Wenchi was inundated by water and mud. Ghana’s Parliament later cited the incident alongside other fatal mining accidents.
WiM-Africa also referenced data from Ghana’s National Disaster Management Organisation showing that more than 22 people drowned in abandoned mining pits in the Central Region during the first seven months of 2025. The victims included women and children who were not necessarily involved in mining.
More recently, seven miners were confirmed dead after a pit collapse at Manso Domi Keniago in Ghana’s Ashanti Region on September 3, 2026, according to the newsletter.
In Nigeria, WiM-Africa highlighted the deaths of 37 people detained on suspicion of illegal mining in Niger State. It stressed that the incident differed from mine-site accidents and that the cause of the deaths remains under investigation.
The Federal Government has constituted an independent committee to investigate the deaths and suspended officers involved pending the outcome of the inquiry.
WiM-Africa said the incidents should not be treated as having a single cause but collectively expose vulnerabilities across Africa’s ASM ecosystem.
“Some people died underground. Others died around abandoned mining pits. The 37 deaths in Nigeria occurred after enforcement action, in custody,” the organisation said.
It identified key vulnerabilities as unsafe workings, abandoned pits, weak emergency response, informality, limited pathways to formalisation, poverty-driven participation, enforcement practices and institutional gaps.
WiM-Africa is calling for a coordinated reform programme that combines formalisation with safety, enforcement with human-rights protections, regulation with livelihood protection, and mineral governance with community development.
It urged governments and industry stakeholders to strengthen mine inspections, geotechnical risk management, the closure and rehabilitation of abandoned workings, community-based emergency response, accessible licensing, cooperative development, responsible mineral traceability, and occupational health and safety.
The organisation also called for greater protection of women, children and young people in mining communities, noting that their exposure to mining-related risks often extends beyond mine sites.
WiM-Africa said its Silent 15 of Bilalikoto initiative was created not only to commemorate the Mali victims but also to turn remembrance into sustained advocacy for prevention and accountability.
“When WiM-Africa established the Silent 15 of Bilalikoto, our intention was never simply to commemorate one tragedy in Mali,” the organisation said.
“It was to ensure that lives lost within Africa’s artisanal mining ecosystem become a catalyst for prevention, accountability and reform.”
The organisation said the deaths in Niger State, although occurring outside a mine site, reinforced the broader principle behind the initiative: people at the margins of Africa’s mineral economy must be protected “at the mine, within mining communities, throughout mineral supply chains, and within the institutions established to regulate them.”
WiM-Africa concluded that Africa’s ambition to build a responsible minerals economy cannot be separated from the protection of human life.
“Africa cannot build a responsible minerals economy while preventable deaths become routine,” it said. “The continent has spent enough time counting the dead. It is time to operationalise reform and start preventing the next number.”
