Sub-Saharan Africa
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Burkina Faso to Train Miners to Prevent Gold From Being Used by Terrorists

For years, Burkina Faso, located in Africa's Sahel region, has been facing the threat of terrorist groups that have committed various crimes, ranging from mass killings and kidnappings of civilians to drug trafficking and arms smuggling. The Sahel is vast, making it difficult for law enforcement to monitor and control the movements of these groups.
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Burkina Faso has come up with a way to prevent gold from being used by terrorists: the West African country will train gold miners. The project was announced by the National Corporation of Artisans and Small Mine Operators (CONAPEM).
Without formalization, "we have no control over gold mining sites, which can contribute to the financing of terrorism," explained CONAPEM's new president, Potierozie Didier Dabire.
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Dabire pointed out that Burkina Faso today has more than 800 "wild sites" for gold mining. It is therefore necessary, he said, to focus on building the capacity of stakeholders to better control the management of these sites.
It is also important to mobilize CONAPEM members in the various mining zones of the country. The organization's main objective is to support operators and artisanal miners in the process of formalization and transition to semi-mechanized mines.
In particular, it plans to carry out environmental impact studies of the various semi-mechanized sites.