The Burkinabè government ordered an end on July 2, 2024 to illegal gold mining carried out in the Cascades, Hauts-Bassins and the South-West by foreigners. These offenders will be expelled from Burkina, their research permits withdrawn and their equipment, which amounts to several billion FCFA, will now be the property of the Burkinabe state, added the executive.A government delegation visited Diarabakoko in the commune of Banfora, on the gold mining site, on Tuesday July 2, 2024, to observe the illegal exploitation of the said site.Immediately, the delegation, composed of the Minister of Energy, Mines and Quarries, Yacouba Zabré GOUBA and the Minister Delegate in charge of Security, Divisional Police Commissioner, Mahamadou Sana, demanded an immediate halt to the work at the sites concerned.'We have just noticed this illegal activity. This is an exploitation of our environment with quite enormous and unimaginable damage. It must be said that this extraordinary activity is carried out by foreigners who are wildly exploiting our environment,' indicated the Minister of Energy, Mines and Quarries, Yacouba Zabré GOUBAAccording to Mr. GOUBA, the government found it necessary to delegate the ministers in charge of Security and that of Mines to observe the extent of the phenomenon and take appropriate measures in order to be able to stop 'this action which is destroying our environment'.As a first measure, it is the immediate cessation of all activity in the areas concerned which are, among others, the Cascades, the Hauts-Bassins and the South-West. 'What we have as information is that these activities are carried out with the complicity of some of our brothers,' he regretted.'The second urgent measure concerns those who engaged in this illegal practice and who abused our hospitality. Their residence permits will be purely and simply withdrawn and, as a result, we will ask them to leave the territory of Burkina,' he confided.The third measure concerns those who hold research permits and semi-mechanized per mits and who have benefited from the complicity of some of our brothers to facilitate this illegal exploitation.These permits will simply be taken away from them. It appears that some benefit from artisanal mining cards. These cards will also be removed and they will also be removed from the mining list, he added."We are going to mobilise the Defence and Security Forces in order to be able to carry out a wide range of locations and an overall map to allow us to see the other possible perimeters where there is this exploitation and to be able to put an end to this bad practice", said the minister.Finally, one of the urgent measures that we are going to take concerns all the materials and equipment that are used on these sites. They will be seized from an administrative point of view and will become the property of the State of Burkina Faso, he mentioned.According to the Minister in charge of Mines, this equipment is made up of around sixty machines, and each machine costs at least 600,000,000 CFA franc s. All this shows the scale that this phenomenon is gaining, he noted.'We can say that it is gold that these foreigners are looking for, but it is important that we can deepen the research to see if, behind this search for gold, there are not other precious substances which are being exploited by these people,' he said.As for the Minister in charge of Security, Mahamadou Sana, 'we came to take strong measures on the instructions of the President of Faso, Head of State'.According to Mr. Sana, one of the measures is the pure and simple withdrawal of the residence permits of these foreigners with maximum application of the sanctions provided for by the texts in force.In his opinion, another measure is 'the administrative seizure of devices. We need these devices to wage war, since we are in a situation of terrorism. An instruction has already been given to the Defense and Security Forces to proceed tomorrow with the removal of these devices, made up of machines and hydraulic excavators which can be used for the construction of combat posts and trenches. These hydraulic excavators can also be used in the theater of operations.'He invited the FDS to carry out searches especially in areas that are difficult to access, particularly in forests, and 'we remain convinced that there may be other sites hidden in these places'.The Minister Delegate in charge of Security appealed to all Burkinabés to distance themselves from such practices. He also sent a message to all foreigners by emphasizing that Burkina Faso still remains a country of hospitality, but there are limits. 'When you want to abuse this hospitality, we are also ready to act to protect our environment, our sovereignty and our people,' he warned.According to him, investigations are underway and legal proceedings are being initiated to enable the detection and identification of all those who are complicit and to enforce the integrity of the law on them.'We have also given instructions to the administrative authorities to take all measures to ensure that such practices are no longer observed in their territorial jurisdiction,' he concluded.Source: Burkina Information Agency