Man killed in landslide at Solomon Islands gold mine, police say

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A man’s body has been recovered from the site of a landslide at a gold mine in Solomon Islands, officials said.

The body was found Tuesday, a day after the landslide at the open pit mine on Guadalcanal, the largest island of the South Pacific nation. It wasn’t known if other people were still buried and a search operation would continue at the site, police said in a statement.

The slip spanned 100 meters (328 feet) on an access road leading to the pit, the statement said. The cause of the landslide wasn’t known, Prime Minister Matthew Wale told reporters on Monday.

“Of interest to the government, of course, is to find out whether this was a result of poor mining practices and perhaps the need to strengthen regulations,” Wale said. At the time he said no one was confirmed missing or killed.

The mine’s owners, Wanguo Gold Group Ltd, said in a statement Monday that none of their employees were hurt or missing and no mining equipment was damaged. Operations at the mine had resumed, the statement said.

The man killed was named by police as Ashley Olo, but officials didn't specify if he was a mine worker. Olo's body was returned to his family, said police Acting Commissioner James Aitorea.

According to local news outlets, some families reported people as missing who were not employees of the mine but so-called informal miners operating there. Local reports said the site has attracted controversy before, when local landowners and illegal miners clashed with law enforcement.

The site, near the capital Honiara, is the country's only large-scale gold mine. Operated by Gold Ridge Mining Limited, the mine has since 2019 been majority-owned by the Hong Kong-listed, Chinese-headquartered firm Wanguo Gold Group, with local landowners holding a small stake, Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported.

It was previously owned by an Australian company, which sold the mine in 2015 because of fears it was unsafe in flooding and other natural disasters.