OUAGADOUGOU, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- At least ten people have lost their lives in the collapse of an artisanal gold mining site on Friday at Sideradougou, in western Burkina Faso, a local source told Xinhua on Monday.
"About ten bodies have been found after the slide. Death toll can still rise since the exact number of persons underground in the mine is unknown", an eye witness told Xinhua.
According to government figures, about 1.2 million people are registered in the channel of artisanal gold mining that sees frequent deadly landslides.
The phenomenon of wild scramble for gold has grown in Burkina Faso as the country has experienced a mining boom in the last decade with 15 operational industrial mines, of which 14 gold mines and one zinc mine.
Last September, Burkina Faso's Prime Minister Christophe Joseph Marie Dabire welcomed more investors in mining sector, in an opening speech at the West African Week of Mining Activities in the capital Ouagadougou.
"The mining sector is the most dynamic sector that creates employment in our country," Dabire also said.
Gold production in Burkina Faso reached 51.63 tons in 2018, up from 46.39 tons in 2017, an 11.3 percent increase.
The gold sub-sector's contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) increased from 7.9 percent in 2015 to 11.4 percent and 10.6 percent in 2017 and 2018 respectively, exceeding the target of 10.2 percent by 2020.
