Key facts
- Guinea's Ministry of Territorial Administration said 10 people died and 13 were injured in the clashes.
- Five of the 10 dead were foreign nationals, the ministry said, without giving their nationalities.
- The ministry said the clashes occurred on Wednesday as forces verified the ban, and shots were exchanged after barricades were erected.
- Guinea banned artisanal gold mining in Siguiri on November 2, citing environmental degradation.
- Burkina Faso said on Friday it had repatriated 45,406 citizens forced to leave Guinea because of the ban.
Ten people were killed in clashes with defence and security forces in a gold-producing region in northeastern Guinea, the Ministry of Territorial Administration said in a statement reported on November 13, 2026. The ministry said late on Thursday that the clashes occurred on Wednesday, when the forces were verifying implementation of a ban on artisanal gold mining.
The ministry said the situation escalated and shots were exchanged after protesters erected barricades on public roads. Ten people, including five foreign nationals, died and 13 were injured, according to the ministry's provisional figures. It did not specify the nationalities of the foreigners.
Guinea banned artisanal gold mining in Siguiri on November 2. Authorities said artisanal miners' failure to comply with regulations had led to environmental degradation, including pollution of agricultural land, rivers and vegetation cover.
Neighboring Mali said last week that around 100,000 people had arrived in the capital Bamako and nearly 60,000 more in the border town of Kouremale after they were forced to leave Guinea when the ban was announced. Burkina Faso said on Friday it had repatriated 45,406 of its citizens who were forced to leave Guinea as a result of the ban.
Artisanal mining, driven by growing demand for metals and rising prices, is a common activity across much of West Africa.