VZCZCXRO6549
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHRY #0357/01 1740949
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 230949Z JUN 09
FM AMEMBASSY CONAKRY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3773
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 CONAKRY 000357 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL ASEC EINV EMIN ECON KCOR GV
SUBJECT: POVERTY DRIVES EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN IN 
ARTISANAL GOLD MINES 
 
REF: CONAKRY 00233 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY. Embassy officers visited a community 
artisanal mine close to the Guinea-Mali border where poverty 
forces hundreds of children to work in exploitative 
situations. The Upper Guinea region is highly dependent on 
the artisanal mine sector and children provide an unprotected 
source of income for their families.  The conditions in the 
mine area and operations are extremely dangerous. END SUMMARY. 
 
 
----------------------------- 
CENTURIES OLD SEARCH FOR GOLD 
----------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) Embassy officers visited the Doko artisanal gold 
mining area in Upper Guinea, approximately 30 kilometers from 
the Guinea-Mali border, to monitor the USG-funded Save the 
Children Trafficking in Persons (TIP) project. The Doko mine 
is located about 57 kilometers from the regional capital of 
Siguiri.  Common throughout the region, mining operations 
have been the main economic activity in the Upper Guinea 
economy for centuries, followed by subsistence farming and 
trading. The site of present day Siguiri and the surrounding 
countryside were once the capital of the vast Mandingo 
Empire, whose gold jewelry and ceremonial pieces were 
legendary throughout Africa. 
 
¶3. (U) Located approximately seven kilometers from the 
relatively prosperous village of Doko, the mining area is 
situated on a treed savanna bluff.  The soil is red with the 
mineral wealth, and termite mounds cover the fields and 
ground along the dirt road to the mining area. Workers reach 
the site either on foot, by commuting in ancient trucks from 
Doko village, or by motorcycles, hundreds of which are 
scattered around the mining area. 
 
------------------------------ 
HAZARDOUS WORK FOR LITTLE GAIN 
------------------------------ 
 
¶4. (U) The arduous work at the mining site is done  by hand, 
with women and children participating on a par with men.  The 
only motorized machinery are the motorcycles and one rusty 
generator used to pump water out of the shafts in the rainy 
season. In contrast to the billion dollar industrialized 
mining operations in other parts of Guinea, these artisanal 
operations are relatively simple.  A narrow shaft, routinely 
50 meters deep, is dug by hand, straight into the ground.  No 
rocks, safety barriers, or berms warn passerbys of the sudden 
plunge into the ground. The dirt is then hauled up in buckets 
by a simple pulley system operated by women who stand over 
the hole.  Women and young girls then carry the dirt in pans 
on their heads to a washing area, in this case bowl-like 
indentations in the ground that cover large portions of the 
mining area. (Note. Community rules prohibit washing the dirt 
in the nearby river, although PolOff was not able to verify 
if the rule is respected.) Bending over in muddy water up to 
their shins, women "wash" and strain the excavated dirt, 
hoping to see flecks of gold at the bottom of their gourds. 
 
 
-------------------- 
HAZARDOUS CONDITIONS 
-------------------- 
 
¶5. (U) The mining area and operations are extremely 
hazardous. Hundreds of unmarked shafts cover the ground 
following rich mineral veins.  The deep shafts are very 
closely spaced with the distance between them no more than a 
foot wide, making walking around the area on the slippery 
dirt, leaves, trash and uneven ground, extremely treacherous. 
Miners carrying small pickaxes descend into the narrow shafts 
using finger and toe holds.  No safety ropes are used. The 
most rudimentary attempts at safety, such as covering the 
mouth of a shaft with boards, are nonexistent.  The nearest 
hospital is located in the town of Kankan, 192 kilometers 
away. 
 
¶6. (U) When asked about accidents, the workers said that 
recently a miner had fallen into one of the shafts and it had 
taken several hours to get him out. The miners avoided 
listing or detailing accidents, perhaps out of superstition 
or bad luck. When PolOff asked about children falling into 
the shafts, the chilling answer from a miner provided little 
comfort, "Oh, more children drown in the wells in the 
villages than here." 
 
 
CONAKRY 00000357  002 OF 003 
 
 
----------- 
CHILD LABOR 
----------- 
 
¶7. (U) Hundreds of children were present and working in the 
mining area.  Save the Children representatives confirmed 
that none of these children attend school. Infants were 
strapped to mothers' backs, and toddlers are hefted around by 
5-year old girls.  Children were caring for children, and 
youngsters eight years and up were actively engaged in mining 
operations, carrying dirt, running errands, and digging 
holes.  Infants and exhausted mothers slept on the ground, 
other infants and toddlers sat in the dirt while their 
mothers labored. 
 
¶8. (U) The shafts deemed to be exhausted of gold were 
abandoned and the miners stated that eventually the spent 
holes will collapse entirely.  PolOff pointed to a woman with 
her infant washing dirt not more than five feet away and 
asked if the situation wasn't dangerous for them.  The miners 
shrugged. 
 
----------------------------- 
COLLAPSED MINE LEAVES 13 DEAD 
----------------------------- 
 
¶9. (U) On May 8, 85 kilometers from Siguiri on the outskirts 
of Touletoni, an underground artisanal mine located below a 
mountain collapsed.  Thirteen miners died and an unknown 
number were injured and taken to the hospital.  The Siguiri 
Police Commissioner told PolOff that local officials had 
determined the mine was dangerous and had chased away the 
miners who returned at night to continue excavating under the 
mountain when the mine collapsed.  The Commissioner confirmed 
that no children were among the dead. 
 
----------------- 
COMMERCIAL CENTER 
----------------- 
 
¶10. (U) So much commerce was taking place at the Doko mining 
area that when PolOff joked that Guinea's Ecobank should open 
a branch under the trees, the weary miners chuckled. 
Surrounding the mining area, vendors sell used clothing, 
shoes, fruit, gasoline and other parts for the motorcycles, 
batteries, flashlights and meat for the food stands. 
 
¶11. (U) The gold was bought from the miners on site.  Seven 
buyers sat on a tarp at the edge of a ragged plastic tent 
with the overseer of the mine sitting cross-legged behind 
them.  The buyers shared a calculator, and a cardboard box 
office contained scales with tiny brass weights. On June 4, 
the buyers purchased one gram of gold for GnF 125,000 (around 
USD $25). (Note: The international gold price for the same 
date was USD $35.) Save the Children representatives stated 
that the gold passes through many hands before it eventually 
reaches Conakry where it is sold to the Central Bank or 
smuggled out of the country. 
 
-------------------- 
COMPLEX INTERACTIONS 
-------------------- 
 
¶12. (U) The economic and social structures of the mine are 
complex and defined by village customs, traditions, land use 
patterns, social hierarchies and familial ties. A basic 
analysis of the economic structure reveals that the owner of 
the land receives GnF 5,000 (USD $1.00) for each mine shaft 
that is dug; the village receives ten percent of the miners' 
profits; and the mine overseer takes one percent. The 
socio-economic situation is complicated by immigrant miners 
from other areas of Guinea, seasonal changes in employment, 
and shifting socio-economic alliances. 
 
¶13. (U) In conversations with local officials and community 
members, PolOff noted the high level of awareness regarding 
trafficked children.  Local officials and communities 
actively work with Sabou Guinea, a local NGO, and Save the 
Children, who have ongoing USG-funded TIP projects in the 
border area and in other regions of Guinea (reftel). However, 
the same level of awareness for exploited children did not 
seem to exist in the communities and with local officials. 
When Embassy LES suggested to the overseer of the mine that 
it would be safer for the children if a few women could care 
for them in an area at a safe distance from the mine, the 
director brushed asides these concerns. 
 
------- 
 
CONAKRY 00000357  003 OF 003 
 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶14. (U) Lack of economic opportunity drives families in the 
Siguiri region to the drudgery of artisanal mining.  Guinean 
children commonly work to help their families and are 
routinely responsible for large portions of housework.  Yet, 
unlike laboring in agriculture after school, the children at 
the mines are not attending school and are subjected to 
dangerous conditions. 
 
¶15. (U) The lack of government regulation and oversight of 
the mine reflects a systemic disregard for the rights of 
children. Without concerted intervention, the children who 
labor in the Doko mine, and all the other artisanal mines in 
the area, will face a life of cyclical poverty.  END COMMENT. 
RASPOLIC