The Niger River lies at the heart of the decision. In a joint statement from five ministries, read out on Monday, 2 November, by army spokesman General Mamadou Aliou Sow, Guinean authorities announced a total ban on unregulated gold mining in the administrative region of Siguiri, in the country’s northeast. A decree published the following day formalised the measure, which has applied across the whole region since 4 November, according to the Guinean Press Agency.
The reasons given are first and foremost environmental. The government points to soil degradation, the destruction of farmland and the pollution of several waterways, chief among them the Niger and its tributary, the Tinkisso. All gold mining is now prohibited in the riverbed, along its banks and on agricultural land, as is the use of dredges, explosives and hazardous chemicals.
To enforce the ban, Conakry has opted for a firm hand. Security and defence forces will be permanently stationed in the region, and checkpoints have been set up on roads, waterways and entry points to stop heavy machinery and equipment meant for illegal mining from coming in. Offenders and their accomplices face the penalties provided by law.
Local government is also bearing the cost of the crackdown. On 30 October, 22 officials had already been suspended, including the prefect of Siguiri, who was also acting governor, before being struck off. Then, in a decision signed on 3 November, Territorial Administration Minister Djénabou Touré removed nearly 480 district heads and neighbourhood chiefs suspected of enabling illegal mining.
On the ground, the shockwaves have quickly spread beyond Guinea’s borders. Forced to abandon the sites, thousands of miners, mostly Burkinabè but also Malians, have set off for neighbouring Mali. According to Burkina Faso’s embassy in Bamako, some 45,000 Burkinabè live in Guinea, most of them working in artisanal gold mining. Ouagadougou sent a ministerial delegation to the Malian capital on Wednesday to register arrivals, assess their needs and organise their repatriation, which was due to begin on Thursday. Bamako, for its part, says it has made arrangements to receive them.
Tensions between the capitals are rising, however. Visiting Bamako, Burkina Faso’s Security Minister Mahamadou Sana reported injuries among his compatriots, some from gunfire, and lamented a lack of advance planning. The Burkinabè government has called for calm and restraint.
In Siguiri itself, opinion is divided. Some local figures see the ban as a necessary step to protect residents and an opportunity to regulate the sector better, while others criticise timing that caught the population off guard and the treatment of foreign workers. Conakry insists it wants to clean up the gold sector without undermining its importance to the national economy.
The question now is whether this offensive will bring lasting change to one of West Africa’s leading gold-producing areas, where artisanal mining supports tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border.