Miner rocked as angry ex-workers seize £1.4m of gold

SHARES in Avocet Mining crashed nearly 20pc after a shipment of gold worth more than £1m was seized by angry ex-workers.

The workers at the Inata mine in the West African country of Burkina Faso were laid off during a strike in 2014 and now claim that they are owned £2.8m in unpaid benefits. Bailiffs acting on their behalf have seized 1,400 ounces of gold – worth £1.4m.

The miner insists the seizure was illegal and requested at a court hearing yesterday that the threat of seizure be lifted. But until a decision is made in the next couple of weeks, Avocet has stopped gold shipments because of fears they will be intercepted by bailiffs acting for the workers.

Avocet operates the mine through its subsidiary Société des Mines de Bélahouro (SMB), which said if the matter is not resolved quickly it would be forced to temporarily stop operations.

‘If such a cessation is necessary, production will be impacted and no payments will be possible to suppliers or workers until the matter is resolved,’ it said. ‘If the cessation continues for a prolonged period, it may mean that the mine cannot be re-started without significant investment, if at all, and may have a material adverse effect on SMB’s financial position.’

SMB said ex-workers claim they are owned a number of unpaid benefits. A court upheld their claim but an amount has yet to be determined by the court, and SMB believes it will be considerably less than the £2.8m they are asking for.

Shares fell 19.85pc or 16.5p to 66.62p.