The deaths of four miners in the West African nation of Burkina Faso have prompted advocates to call for greater oversight of Canadian-owned mining companies operating abroad.
Workers at the Vancouver-based Trevali Mining Corp.-owned Perkoa mine were trapped more than 500 meters below the surface on April 16 after heavy rains caused sudden flooding, breaking two embankments. out of the mine.
Last week, the company said none of the eight missing workers were able to reach an underground shelter chamber. On Wednesday, Trevali reported that the bodies of four workers had been found. Four more workers remain missing.
Industry watchdogs have been disappointed with what they describe as the company’s apparent inability to respond to flooding.
Trevali and the Burkina Faso government have said water pumping equipment should be imported from other countries, such as Ghana and South Africa. (Burkina Faso Government Information Service)
Heavy machinery and pumping equipment had to be imported from other countries such as Ghana and South Africa, according to the Burkina Faso company and government.
Jamie Kneen with MiningWatch Canada, an Ottawa-based NGO, wonders if the company was prepared for a disaster.
“I think in any context, in the developing world or in Canada, that’s just a surprisingly poor response,” he said.
Kneen says the federal government does not regulate the activities of Canadian mining companies internationally.
“They are subject to the laws and regulations that exist in a place like Burkina Faso insofar as they are actually being enforced,” he said.
In March, the new federal Democrats introduced a private member bill that would make Canadian companies more responsible for environmental and human rights abuses in their international operations.
“They couldn’t say, ‘Oh, we didn’t know what was going on,'” Kneen said.
Another private NDP member’s bill would give the Canadian Ombudsman for Responsible Business (CORE) powers to investigate human rights abuses by Canadian corporations and to force key witnesses and documents. Kneen says CORE currently lacks the power to investigate, making it “essentially ineffective.”
Trevali has said he is working closely with authorities as he investigates the cause of the flood.