Foreign individuals detained for attempts to access gold illegally: sources
The Tigray Interim Administration (TIA) is caught between a rock and a hard place as the federal government pushes for the return of concessions in Tigray to foreign mining firms while the sites being doled out by the Ministry of Mines are under the control of local miners who have no intention of leaving. The situation has led to increased friction in the region and the detention of foreign individuals whom regional security forces accused of attempting to access mining sites informally without licenses.
There were a reported 27 large-scale mining operators, most of them backed by foreign investment, operating in Tigray before the outbreak of war in November 2020. These firms abandoned their concessions during the fighting, and the sites have since been taken over by local mining outfits.
Over the last several months, however, the foreign investors have begun exerting efforts to regain their mining sites with the support of the Ministry of Mines and the federal government. Read more