By Jimmy Sanchez
*BONANZA Nicaragua (Reuters) - Rescue workers freed 20 informal miners who were trapped in a gold mine after a landslide in northern Nicaragua, government spokeswoman Rosario Murillo said on Friday.
The spokeswoman had said on Thursday that some 29 miners were trapped, and two of them had been rescued the same day. The whereabouts of the remaining miners was not immediately clear.
Murillo told local radio on Friday that rescue efforts would continue into the night.
Julio Quintero, head of Nicaraguan miner Hemco, a unit of Colombia's Mineros SA, said the mine in the Bonanza project some 260 miles (420 km) northeast of Managua, was closed about four years ago after being deemed unsafe.
Nonetheless, artisanal miners continued to work there against the company's orders, and Quintero said Hemco had continued to buy minerals from them until last week, when it decided it could not be sure where the product came from.
Artisanal mining is legal in Nicaragua, the poorest country in Latin America, where it is used as a way for more people to profit from the industry.
The mine had been severely affected by seasonal rains in the past, the company added, with another landslide two months ago killing two miners.
The Bonanza project, which began in 1995, produces around 37,300 troy ounces of gold a year, according to Hemco's website.
(Additional reporting by Leslie Nicolas Lacayo; writing by Alexandra Alper; editing by Tom Pfeiffer)
----------BOGOTA (Reuters) - Two of 26 artisanal gold miners trapped in a landslide caused by heavy rains in northern Nicaragua have been freed, while rescue efforts continue, the company that used to operate the mine said in a statement on Friday.
* news.yahoo.com/24-nicaraguan-miners-still-trapped-gold-mine-040611939.html
Colombian miner Mineros S.A., which operates the Bonanza region project via its Nicaraguan subsidiary Hemco, said it had been informed by local emergency services that the two miners were freed from a section of the mine the company had previously shut down.
Mineros said the collapse occurred early on Thursday morning on El Comal mountain, 2-1/2 miles (4 km) from their mine in Bonanza, which is about 260 miles (420 km) northeast of the capital Managua.
The company had condemned the part of the project where the miners are trapped after inspectors found it to be unsafe, but legal artisanal miners had continued to work there against the company's orders, said a spokeswoman at Mineros.
Hemco buys minerals produced by artisanal miners in Nicaragua, where the activity is legal and used as a way for more people in the poorest Latin American country to profit from the mining industry.
The spokeswoman said the mine had been collapsed to make it inaccessible after it was condemned and that access was likely to be difficult. Rescue workers were trying to insert a tube with oxygen into the underground mine.
The condition of the remaining trapped miners was unknown, the spokeswoman said.
The mine had been severely affected by seasonal rains in the past, the company said in its statement, with another landslide two months ago killing two miners.
"The rescue efforts are permanent and won't stop until we have helped the people who remain inside," the statement said.
The Bonanza project, which began in 1995, produces around 37,300 troy ounces of gold a year, according to Hemco's website.
(Reporting by Peter Murphy; Writing by Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Simon Gardner and Gunna Dickson)
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