Acacia Mining reports fatality at Tanzanian mine

One of Tanzanian gold producer Acacia Mining's contract team has been involved in a fatal accident at its North Mara mine.

Sadock Crispin Tindahinile passed away as a result of an accident which involved a reversing vehicle at the Gokona deposit.

Acacia confirmed that there had been no other injuries reported and that investigations into the incident were already underway, with all relevant authorities having been informed.

Peter Geleta, Acacia's interim chief executive officer, and the whole Acacia team expressed their sincere condolences to Tindahinile's family and colleagues.

The death was by no means the first regrettable event at Acacia's North Mara gold mine, as hundreds of local villagers invaded the mine for several days back in June 2017 in an attempt to steal ore amid an ongoing dispute between the former FTSE 250 firm and the Tanzanian government.

Acacia's security forces arrested at least 66 people, 34 of whom were women used as human shields by groups of armed men who invaded the mine following accusations by the Tanzanian authorities that the firm was under-declaring revenues and evading taxes worth tens of billion of dollars.

Last summer, Acacia's Canadian majority shareholder Barrick Gold has agreed to compensate the government of Tanzania to try and resolve an export dispute that saw the mining group accused of under-declaring its gold shipments and "mining illegally".

As of 0825 BST on Tuesday, Acacia shares had lost 2.78% to 118.80p.