The Senegalese government has launched a registration campaign to issue 10,000 digital identification cards to artisanal gold miners in the regions of Kédougou and Tambacounda, in a bid to better regulate the sector and curb recurring fatal accidents at illegal mining sites.
Senegalese authorities are seeking to advance efforts to formalise artisanal gold mining through a large-scale campaign targeting miners in the eastern regions of Kédougou and Tambacounda.
The operation, which will run until the end of October 2026, aims to identify and register 10,000 miners before issuing them digital artisanal mining cards.
According to Abou Sow, regional director of Energy, Mines and Petroleum in Kédougou, the initiative reflects the government’s determination to better organise an activity that plays a significant role in the local economy but remains plagued by illegal mining and unsafe working conditions.
Two registration centres have been opened in Kédougou, at the Regional Directorate of Mines and at Saraya Town Hall, while a similar facility is planned in Tambacounda.
“We will issue 10,000 cards to artisanal miners in the regions of Kédougou and Tambacounda in line with the government’s commitment to regulating artisanal mining activities,” Sow said.
Response to recurring mining accidents
Beyond identifying workers, the digital card scheme is intended to reduce risks associated with illegal mining sites, where deadly pit collapses have become increasingly common.
The Kédougou region has been particularly affected in recent months. In January 2026, six people were killed in a collapse at Gamba-Gamba on the Afrigold concession, followed by another accident at the same site on February 8 that left two dead and three injured.
In Kharakhéna, in the Saraya department, fatal incidents have also multiplied. Two people were killed and two others seriously injured in an April collapse at a site officially closed to artisanal mining. At the time, local authorities reported at least 21 deaths in the area over a three-month period.
Days later, another collapse at the same site claimed the life of a foreign miner, bringing the death toll from cave-ins in Kharakhéna to 22 over three months, according to a security source cited by local media.
The fatalities continued in June and July. A miner believed to be about 32 years old died after an abandoned shaft being exploited illegally collapsed between Saïenssoutou and Bondala.
In early July, six foreign miners were killed in Séguéko, in the Bembou municipality, when an illegally operated crater collapsed. One person was seriously injured. Preliminary findings pointed to unstable ground weakened by heavy rains and unregulated digging.
A few days later, another collapse near Dambala, in the municipality of Missirah Sirimana, killed four people, marking the third such accident in the region in less than a week.
Saraya prefect Babacar Niang said in April that mining-related cave-ins had claimed 54 lives in 2025 and at least 22 more since the beginning of 2026, calling for an approach combining regulation, improved safety and support for miners.
Access to official sites tied to digital cards
Against this backdrop, authorities want the digital card to become both a monitoring and prevention tool. Cardholders will gradually gain access to officially recognised mining sites.
Six official sites are already operating in Kédougou and three in Tambacounda as part of a pilot phase covering 33 designated locations.
Additional official mining zones are planned in Kharakhéna, Sabodala, Sambranbougou (Makabingi), Tenkoto North and Ngary Sékoto.
The objective is to gradually shift mining activities toward regulated sites and reduce reliance on illegal pits and tunnels that often lack basic safety measures.
The programme applies to both Senegalese miners and foreign nationals working in the gold-bearing areas of the two regions.
For the authorities, identifying workers is a prerequisite for improving oversight of the sector, combating illicit gold trafficking and, above all, preventing further accidents.
Under the planned regulations, access to formal mining sites will ultimately be restricted to holders of a digital artisanal mining card.
The government hopes the initiative will help end the succession of deadly accidents that continue to affect mining communities in Kédougou, where artisanal gold mining remains a major source of income but also exposes workers to significant risks.
TE/lb/as/APA