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It is public knowledge in Kono that the “Number Eleven” Tailings, a sand dune suspected to contain washed-out diamonds, has buried undisclosed number of youth miners whose corpses could not be retrieved.
One survivor of the incident is Alfred Mansaray who is said to be nursing an injured leg at the home of APC Youth leader Adamu in Koidu town.
The said Tailings, otherwise called ‘san san” had a government ban on them, which was not lifted until recently and hundreds of millions of leones have been collected as license fees to scoop the sand in bags that have been washed for diamonds, scarcely found.
Those who paid the minimum of three hundred thousand leones to get access to scoop the sand have complained about poor yield in terms of diamonds.
“Many Kono youths and supporters had asked for refunds of their monies paid for the “san san” which hardly break - even after paying the three hundred thousand leones to Mines, buy tools and pay the youths for their labour,” disclosed diamond dealer Sorie I. Samura.
He said the top layer of the sand could not guarantee much diamonds as had been the expectation.
“There has been the rumour in Kono that scraping the bottom layer of the sand will expose hidden diamonds. The youths therefore embarked on the nightly risky bailing of the bottom layer sand and many have been buried by the sliding sand”. |
Daily News 
