Editing Economy of Mali (section)

====Social and environmental impacts====
While great incomes are produced, most staff employed in the mining industries are from outside Mali, and residents in the areas of intensive mining complain of little benefit from the industry.  Populations complain of displacement for the construction of mines: at [[Sadiola Gold Mine]], 43 villages have lost some land to the mine there, while in [[Fourou]], near the large Syama goldmines, 121 villages saw some displacement.<ref>Moussa K. Traoré (2008)</ref>

In addition, the continued exploitation of unregulated small scale mining, often by child laborers, supplies a large international gold market in [[Bamako]] which feeds into international production.<ref name="report">{{Cite web |last=Department Of State. The Office of Electronic Information |first=Bureau of Public Affairs |date=2007-03-06 |title=Mali |url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2006/78745.htm |access-date=2025-04-21 |website=2001-2009.state.gov |language=en}}</ref> Recent criticism has surfaced around the working conditions, pay, and the widespread use of child labor in these small gold mines (as reported recently in the [[U.S. Department of Labor]]'s ''[[List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor]]''),<ref>[http://www.dol.gov/ilab/reports/child-labor/list-of-goods/ List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor, Bureau of International Labor Affairs, U.S. Department of Labor]</ref><ref>[http://www.dol.gov/ilab/reports/child-labor/mali.htm Mali, 2013 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor]</ref> and the method with which middlemen, in regional centers like [[Sikasso]] and [[Kayes]], purchase and transport gold.  Gold collected in the towns is sold on—with almost no regulation or oversight—to larger merchant houses in [[Bamako]] or [[Conakry]], and eventually to smelters in Europe.<ref>{{Cite web |title=AP IMPACT: Kids working in African gold mines - USATODAY.com |url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-08-10-104690609_x.htm |access-date=2025-04-21 |website=usatoday30.usatoday.com}}</ref> Ecological factors, especially pollution of water by mine tailings, is a major source of concern.