KINSHASA, Congo -- At least 60 miners were killed when a shaft collapsed in a remote part of northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where local armed groups complicated rescue efforts, officials said Thursday.

The local miners were digging for gold in shafts up to 300 feet underground when the accident occurred on Monday in Mambasa territory in Orientale Province, said Simon Pierre Bolombo, the provincial head of mines.

He said the collapse had been caused by a landslide.

"It was deep in the forest, there was a landslide, at least 60 people have been killed," Bolombo told Reuters by telephone from the town of Bunia in northeast Congo.

The eastern region of Congo has been suffering from drenching rain in recent days, prompting a visit by U.N. humanitarian chief Baroness Valerie Amos.

Illegal mine
Congo's minister of mines, Martin Kabwelulu, told Reuters the workers were there illegally and that their shafts were deeper than the 32-yard limit required by the code for small-scale mining.

The area where the mine is situated is currently in the hands of a local rebel group -- known as Mai Mai Morgan -- which will likely hamper any rescue efforts, Bolombo said.

"(The mine) is controlled by the rebels. ... There's almost total insecurity, it's difficult for us (to reach)," he added.

Mining companies AngloGold Ashanti and Randgold operate in the region, which is known to be rich in tin and gold, although the accident did not take place on either company's concession, officials said.

PhotoBlog: Congo crisis exacerbated by heavy rains

'Conflict minerals'
Congo, a vast country in central Africa, is mired in poverty. The country has been scarred by decades of dictatorship and war. Many Congolese try to eke out a living through small-scale mining, a dangerous and unregulated practice.

Accidents are common in open-pit mines, where there are few if any safety precautions. Hundreds of thousands of people work in unsafe conditions, some of them forced to mine by some of the armed groups and government soldiers who illegally profit from Congo's massive mineral resources.

More Africa coverage on NBCNews.com

Armed groups across eastern Congo use illegal and small-scale mining to help fund their activities, despite international attempts to stamp out so-called "conflict minerals."

Push for cleanly sourced minerals
A report this week by the Washington-based Enough Project that ranked companies on conflict minerals said leading tech companies have proven it is possible to invest in cleanly sourced minerals from Congo that benefit local communities instead of armed groups. 

PhotoBlog: South Africa mine protest continues amid fatalities

The report praised Intel, Motorola Solutions, HP and Apple as "pioneers of progress," but gave Nintendo zero points for making "no known effort."

Companies have been responding to U.S. legislation demanding clean supply chains and to increasing consumer activism.

Complete World coverage on NBCNews.com

The group also gave high points to Philips, ACER, Dell and Microsoft. Among poor performers it ranks HTC, Sharp, Nikon and Canon. They could not immediately be reached for comment.

Reuters and The Associated Oress contributed to this report.

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Alastair Jamieson/NBC News

Londoners Eva Gray and Ryan Church were among the delighted fans of 'Team GB' at the Olympic Stadium in London, Sunday.

Updated at 5:01 p.m. ET: LONDON - Olympic host nation Britain was in euphoric mood Sunday, celebrating an "extraordinary" haul of gold medals that sent the UK media went wild with Games fever.

Two gold medals on Sunday - including Andy Murray's defeat of Roger Federer at Wimbledon - took Britain's collection to 16 at the London Games, putting it third in the overall table behind the United States (28 gold medals) and China (30).

Saturday was Britain's successful Olympic day since 1908, with six golds in the space of one hour: Two in rowing and one at the cycling velodrome quickly followed by a hat-trick of victories in athletics from Jessica Ennis (heptathlon), Greg Rutherford (long jump) and Mo Farah (10,000m).

 Phelps, Rupp, Pistorius: Emotional moments

"Their extraordinary efforts have brought rapture to streets, parks and living rooms in London and all over the country if not the planet," London mayor Boris Johnson said in a characteristically hyperbolic statement.

London's funny zip-lining mayor taken seriously

"It has been a remarkable first week and my hearty congratulations go to every single athlete that has taken part," Johnson added.

"They have entertained billions of people around the world and I for one cannot wait to see what they serve up for week two." 

London Games chief Sebastian Coe, a double Olympic 1,500 champion, said: "I think we've witnessed something sensational. I've never known a night in UK athletics like that, it was unbelievable."

Alastair Jamieson/NBC News

Flying the flag: 'Team GB' supporters (L-R) Chris Elliott and his brothers Patrick, Dan and Nick at the Olympic Stadium in London, Sunday.

It was also a cathartic moment for London, coming almost exactly a year since rioting brought the city's safe hosting of the games into doubt.

"Today, London rose from the ashes," wrote blogger Ronnie Joice on Twitter.

At the Olympic Stadium on Sunday evening, the Union flag and 'Team GB' sports shirts were much in evidence. Eva Gray and Ryan Church, both from London, were sporting imitation gold medals in honor of Saturday night's successes.

Patrick Elliott, who was at the stadium with his three brothers, said: "The roar of the home support must have a lot to do with Britain's success. The noise that was being made when Jessica Ennis was running was incredible."

Carrie Ruddock, a South African living in London, said: "South Africa has also done better than expected - but it's great that Britain has done so well."

Britain's euphoria was reflected in Sunday morning's press coverage. "Britain awakes to an unfamiliar sensation: winning," wrote Jill Lawless of the Associated Press, noting that "a country accustomed to sporting disappointment could scarcely contain its disbelief." 

British newspapers continued the theme, the front page of the Sunday Times describing it as "Our Finest Olympic Hour" alongside a spectacular picture of Rutherford flying through the air in mid-jump.

Alastair Jamieson/NBC News

South Africans Cheryl McGregor (L) and Carrie Ruddock at the Olympic Stadium, Sunday.

The Sunday Telegraph had one word for it - "Sensational". The headline ran above photos of all six British gold-medal victors from the second Saturday of the Games.

"That Was Pure Gold" was the Independent's reaction with a sub-heading that read: "One by one we counted them in on another astonishing day of British Olympic success."

BBC via Twitter @suttonnick

The Sunday Telegraph marks Saturday's British medal haul

"Britain's Greatest Day" said the Observer above a picture of a smiling Ennis with a Union Jack draped over her shoulders.

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David Gray / Reuters

China's Ye Shiwen poses with her gold medal on the podium during the women's 400m individual medley victory ceremony at the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Aquatics Center on Saturday.

BEIJING – On the heels of her second gold medal performance, China’s state media have come to the defense of Chinese swimmer, Ye Shiwen, ending their relative silence on the doping allegations that have plagued the young female swimmer since her recording-breaking performance last weekend.

On Saturday night, the 16-year-old Ye demolished the world record in the 400 individual medley, coming from behind to win gold in 4:28.43. Besides swimming that race nearly seven seconds faster than her winning performance at the FINA World Championships in Shanghai last year, she also incredibly outpaced American gold medalist Ryan Lochte’s final 50 in the men’s race by a split-second.

(Watch the 400 IM race here) 

Lochte won the 400 medley with the second-fastest time in history.

Ye’s dominant performance raised eyebrows among some swimming experts, including John Leonard, the head of the American Swimming Coaches Association who openly questioned the legitimacy of Ye’s victory.

“History in our sport will tell you that every time we see something, and I put quotation marks around this, ‘unbelievable,’ history shows us that it turns out later on there was doping involved,” Leonard was quoted as saying.

Questions were renewed Tuesday after Ye won again, this time breaking her own Olympic record in the 200 IM.  The win made Ye the first two-time gold medal winner in Chinese swimming history.

It also made her a target for pointed questions regarding her impressive performances so far.

By all accounts, Tuesday’s press conference for Ye Shiwen following her 200 IM victory was inundated with questions regarding doping and performance-enhancing drugs.

However, for the Chinese press corps yesterday, the story was not so much Ye’s answers – as the media’s questions.

Chinese outrage
One Chinese account of the press conference noted angrily that toward the end, one Western reporter directly asked Ye, “I’d like to ask you if you doped to win that gold medal. Please answer me directly with a ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’”

According to the report, Ye looked the reporter directly in the eye and shot back, “Absolutely no! Why am I the only one who is suspected of cheating when other foreign athletes also win multiple gold medals?”

The tone of the reporter’s question led to complaints from the furious Chinese press, many of whom felt professional and etiquette boundaries were breached.

“A 16-year-old genius not only can't enjoy her victory, but also has to be subjected to this ‘interrogation,’” one Chinese journalist reportedly said. “As Chinese journalists, we have the right to protest."

One person who did protest was Ye’s father, Ye Qingsong, who told a local Chinese news website here that, "The Western media have always been arrogant, and suspicious of Chinese people."

State media: a ‘deep bias’ by Western media
China’s state media have largely stayed quiet on the subject of doping, only mentioning in passing in some reports the accusations and Ye’s dismissal of them.

But following the press conference, the media stepped up to defend Ye.

China’s reliably nationalist newspaper, Global Times, chimed in with an editorial Wednesday that said negative comments about Ye were rooted in a “deep bias and reluctance from the Western press to see Chinese people making breakthroughs.”

“If Ye were an American, the tone would be different in Western media,” continued the editorial. “Michael Phelps won eight gold medals in the 2008 Games. Nobody seems to question the authenticity of his results, most probably because he is American.”

Nobody that is, except for China’s former Olympic doctor who claimed Tuesday  he long suspected Michael Phelps as a doper, but remained silent because  he had no evidence. 

The Global Times acknowledged the country’s past doping incidents were an understandable source of suspicion towards Ye, but pointedly noted that she has passed doping tests conducted by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

On China’s state broadcaster, CCTV, coverage of the Olympic Games included an on-air comment from host Zhou Yafei, who noted that Ye had passed her doping test and she hoped “the Western media will change their bias and jealousy.”

Meanwhile, on China’s Twitter-like service, Weibo, the nearly 2.7 million comments about the embattled swimmer were overwhelming supportive and helped make her the biggest trending topic on the popular microfeed service as of Wednesday afternoon.

“Do they have to be so obvious with their envy?” wrote one poster of the West’s coverage of Ye’s victories.

“All medalists and other athletes are tested at the Games,” wrote another. “It’d be way better if everyone would shut the hell up unless the test finds anyone positive from doping.”

But for many netizens in China, solidarity with Ye has manifested itself in one simple play on her name that has spread around Weibo: “Ye Shiwen = Yes she wins.”

NBC News’ Tianzhou Ye and Joy Li contributed to this report

Martin Mejia / AP

An unidentified miner, left, is helped by an emergency worker after being rescued from the Cabeza de Negro gold-and-copper mine in Yauca del Rosario, Peru, on Wednesday. They had been trapped there since April 6.

ICA, Peru -- Nine workers trapped inside an abandoned mine in southern Peru were rescued and brought to daylight early Wednesday after spending almost a week underground.

The men had been stuck about 656 feet below ground since the so-called "wildcat" copper-and-gold mine partially collapsed on Thursday. They had been receiving oxygen and liquids through a giant hose that was in place before the accident at the Cabeza de Negro site.

"All of them are healthy but obviously dehydrated and dizzy," President Ollanta Humala said. "They need to get used to the sun still, that's why they are wearing sunglasses."

Miner Jesus Japatinta said he was overwhelmed after walking out alive.

"I spilled tears, happy tears," he said.

Humala, who witnessed the rescue operation, warned informal miners to stay away from abandoned mines like Cabeza de Negro, saying they were dangerous.

PhotoBlog: Peruvian miners rescued

The mine is located 4,400 feet above sea level on a mountainside about 175 miles southeast of Lima.

On Sunday, Peru's government appealed to mining companies for heavy equipment. Until then, several dozen rescue workers had used pickaxes and shovels to try to remove the 26 feet of collapsed earth and rock blocking the entrance of the mine.

The cave-in spurred calls to formalize Peru's vast informal mining sector, which generates as much as $2 billion a year in income, according to private estimates.

Mining is the main engine of Peru's economy, accounting for more than 60 percent of its exports. It is the world's No. 2 copper exporter after neighboring Chile and ranks sixth in gold exports.

According to official figures, 52 miners died in Peru last year in work-related accidents, a third of them in mine shaft collapses.

Reuters and The Associated Press contibuted to this report.

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By Jessica Hopper
Rock Center

Samba Diarra, 15, journeyed 200 miles to live in a plastic hut alone and work in an artisanal gold mine in Mali. The teen came to the mine to help support his five younger brothers and sisters.

“The main reason I left home is to help my parents and sending them money is my main goal,” Diarra said.

Diarra’s parents can’t afford  to send him to school because he has to support his younger siblings.  He is one of at least 20,000 children working in Mali’s artisanal mines.

Mali is Africa’s third largest gold producer. Artisanal mines rely on heavy human labor and little mechanization.  People throughout West Africa are flocking to work in the primitive pits. 

“Globally, we’ve seen an increase with the number of artisanal gold miners because of the rise of gold prices, but that doesn’t necessarily translate to better living conditions,” said Juliane Kippenberg who helped author a Human Rights Watch report on Mali’s mines. 

The skyrocketing price of gold has led to a rush on the precious metal in the United States and throughout the world, but some of the mining that’s helping feed the world’s craving involves child labor and a dangerous process involving mercury.

Approximately 100,000 to 200,000 people in Mali are working in artisanal mines, according to the Human Rights Watch report.  Kippenberg told NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel that 20 to 30 percent of the workforce in African artisanal mines is child labor.

The report entitled, “A Poisonous Mix: Child Labor, Mercury and Artisanal Gold Mining in Mali,” details abysmal working conditions.

 “There couldn’t be a bigger contrast between the situation of a 7-year-old or a 14, 15-year-old working day in and day out in the very harsh conditions of these mines and the beautiful world of jewelry somewhere in Switzerland or the U.S. or elsewhere,” Kippenberg said.

The children working in the mines, some as young as six years old, help dig shafts with pickaxes, lift and carry heavy bags of ore and pan the gold with an amalgamation process involving mercury. 

“Not only is it hard work and then you’re tired from it, but it is hard work that everyday gives you pain: headaches, back pain, joint aches and it will create long-term spinal injury for some of these children who are carrying very heavy loads and they are very small,” Kippenberg said.

Diarra spent his first day pulling up gold ore that was mined by men working deep underground.  At the end of his first day, he was paid with a bag of dirt.  Gold is currently trading at around $1742 an ounce.

“After I wash and refine it, I’ll get paid for the gold that might be inside,” he said.

Some children working in the mines never get paid. Those who do, get just a few dollars a week.

Diarra still has dreams of a life away from the mines.

“I would like to study if I have the opportunity, I would also like to be a footballer,” he said.

Kippenberg said that it will be hard for Diarra to leave the mines.

“The sad news is that he is not going to be able to realize his dreams.  In almost all of these situations where children come here to work by themselves, they are terribly exploited and will probably end up working in artisanal gold mines for the rest of their lives or for very long periods, making, eking, out a living,” Kippenberg said.

Malian law actually bans child labor in artisanal mines, but the law is not heavily enforced. One miner told Rock Center that he simply can’t afford the fees to send his children to school so instead they work with him.

Diata Lissoko, the traditional  leader of one of the mines said, “With this kind of physical labor, life is short.”

Lissoko said that just two days prior to Rock Center’s visit, a young man had suffocated deep in the mine.

“It was 30, 40 meters deep.  When you descend a mine that deep, there is no oxygen down there, so if you breathe in the gas, you are killed immediately,” Lissoko said.

Others are dying slowly from toxic mercury vapors.  To speed up the refining process, workers are mixing mercury with the crushed ore.  The mercury adheres to the gold flakes.  Then the mixture is burned. Those vapors are the most toxic.  Women and children often are in charge of panning the gold and often use the mercury in their backyards in the middle of their villages.

 “Working with mercury in a residential area is a particularly bad practice because it affects so many people,” said Kippenberg of Human Rights Watch.  “They will be exposed to mercury poisoning.  Just to give you an idea, it’s not something that happens very quickly, but people will begin to have coordination problems, memory problems in high doses. It can lead to kidney failure, heart problems and it can even kill people.”

Approximately 12 percent of the world’s gold is born from the grueling process of artisanal mining, Kippenberg said.

“It’s not the majority of the gold, but at the same time, it’s a significant proportion,” Kippenberg said.

The gold is sold to middlemen and eventually ends up in places like Dubai and Switzerland where it is melted  and mixed with gold from large scale mines before it’s turned into jewelry worn throughout the world.

“Even if it is a long, long supply train, at the end of the day, it is the gold from these artisanal mines in Mali and other parts of the world that is exported and then goes to the world’s markets and is turned into jewelry,” Kippenberg said.  “So, yes, there is a direct link between the people who wear the jewelry and buy it and the refiners, the big international companies who trade the gold globally and those who work in these mines, the depths of these shafts, who risk their lives in doing so.”