When Muyideen Adegboyega, 46, set off on his scooter one morning in October 2022, he had no way of knowing it would be his last journey.

A flying chunk of rock from a nearby explosion killed the young father as he rode close to the town of Iperindo, in southwest Nigeria.

The blast came from the Segilola gold mine, which is owned by Thor Explorations, a company listed on both the London and Canadian stock exchanges. The site extends to within meters of the main road running into Iperindo.

Accounts differ over the circumstances of Adegboyega’s death. Thor said Adegboyega breached the exclusion zone and police check.

But reporters tracked down a woman who claimed she was on the back of Adegboyega’s scooter. She denied the road was closed. Not wanting her name disclosed, she maintained that traffic flowed despite a siren sounding.

Blasts like the one that killed Adegboyega have been a regular danger for thousands of people who live near Segilola in Nigeria’s Osun state.

Interviews with residents, former workers and local leaders suggest much of the community living in fear, their houses cracked and collapsing from what they believe are the effects of the mining operations. Some said they have developed health issues from dust caused by the explosions.

Satellite analysis undertaken by Finance Uncovered indicates Segilola has been blasting extremely close to people’s homes for five years.

In fact, the mine is located within three kilometers of Iperindo which according to a clause in Nigeria’s ambiguous quarrying and blasting rules is forbidden - a notion vigorously rejected by Thor.

Thor has been buoyed by Segilola’s success. In 2025, its profits after tax more than doubled from a year earlier to $196m. The company’s shares have rocketed on the Toronto exchange, rising 263% since the start of 2025.

But as Thor’s profits surge, the people of Iperindo say they are paying a heavy price.

Nearly four years after her husband’s death, Adegboyega’s widow, Kafayat (above), said she struggles to feed and clothe her four children even with the support paid to her by the mine.

Thor said its compensation included financial assistance to his two widows, younger brother and mother as well as scholarships through school and university for his six children.

It also offered Kafayat a job, but she cannot face going to the site. “I can’t work in a place where what they did killed my husband,” she said. “I can’t even go near the place.”

Thor described Mr. Adegboyega’s death as “profoundly tragic” but “respectfully reject(s) any suggestion that the incident demonstrates that our blasting activities have been conducted without appropriate safety measures or in an unsafe or unlawful manner.”

The company denied all allegations that its mine had caused adverse health impacts and insisted all its operations “are undertaken pursuant to all applicable statutory approvals, including an approved Environmental Impact Assessment, and within the parameters approved by the relevant regulatory authorities.”

But many in Iperindo take a different view. Their testimony calls into question whether adequate measures have been put in place by Thor and the Nigerian authorities to protect and compensate them from what is Nigeria’s only commercial gold mine’s activities.

Everything shakes

“I am sure within four years, if they do not stop this blasting, all the houses here will surely collapse,” community leader Olanrewaju Olowookere said.

Olowookere pointed to 20 houses in his neighbourhood — many of which were built without foundations — have started to crumble.

Our reporter visited Iperindo and spoke to more than 20 people who live near Segilola to understand the effects of mining operations on local people. Many told him they live in fear that their houses will cave in or they will be hit by rocks sent flying by the explosions, which they say typically happen three to five times a week.

Signs of the blasting were everywhere, from collapsed walls in people’s houses to the coating of white dust it leaves behind.

“Whenever they blast, often it feels as if the whole house will be uprooted,” said Mosunmola Omoniyi, a farmer from Iperindo whose house has cracked. “From the roof to the foundation of our house, everything will shake.”

A teacher said blasting occurs during school hours and a student told us the experience can be “terrifying”.

“We, including our neighbours, are scared… that one day the blasting will destroy our houses and kill people in the process,” said Gbenga Adedokun, a local farmer, gesturing to the wall of his house, which collapsed late last year.

These testimonies were gathered five years after warnings from independent experts about the effects of blasting, and within a year of the company itself telling investors it was “refining” its techniques regarding certain elements of its operations.

In May 2021, an analysis commissioned by Segilola Resources Operating Limited - a company 100% owned by Thor - warned blasting on the southern end of the site could impact public infrastructure, and cause fly-rock, tremors and pollution.

“The proximity of housing and other public infrastructure close to the mining activities will have to be approached with due care and supportive of a long-term relationship, as mining will impact on the communities with regards to safety, health, environment, and infrastructure,” the report stated.

Since then, the mine has significantly expanded, bringing its southern edge to within meters of Iperindo's northern border.

In its October 2024 operating update, more than three years after the technical report identified potential impact of blasting on communities, Thor said it had become “concerned regarding blasting at the southern end of the pit, close to Iperindo,” and said it had delayed mining operations in the area “until a new blasting strategy was developed and adopted."

When approached for comment about its blasting strategy, Thor told us it constantly reviews all its blasting techniques. “Needless to say, blasting techniques carried out at closer distances from dwellings need to be refined as the blast radius decreases.”

“This is a common best practice operational review and does not suggest any unsafe incident had occurred.”

Thor said it does “not dismiss the fact that residents may experience or perceive vibration associated with controlled blasting.” However, the company said, “we do not accept these allegations as accurately representing our operations.”

The company added that in October 2022, prior to mining commencing at the southern area of the pit – the mine edge closest to Iperindo – a structural assessment was made of all homes within 500 metres of the blast zone. Since 2023, the company said it had conducted 15 blasting repairs to local homes, and none of these involved “substantiated complaints of roofs collapsing, buildings caving in or the widespread structural failures.”

Ambiguous rules

Satellite images show Iperindo and two villages were within a 3km radius when Segilola started blasting in mid 2021.

In theory, this could contravene Nigeria’s quarrying and blasting regulations which state that “a person shall not locate a quarry or engage in blasting within three kilometers (3km) of any existing residential, commercial or industrial area.”

But the same 2013 regulation states that impacts from blasts should not cause discomfort or nuisance to the public and residents within 1,000 metres of the epicenter of the site”.

Thor said in its response that as of October 2022, some dwellings are within 500 metres of a blast zone for planned mining. But it said reporters’ analysis of the rules was “both factually and legally incorrect”.

The company added that it abides by “a comprehensive statutory and regulatory framework” which includes an approved Environmental Impact Assessment and is subject to ongoing environmental monitoring in accordance with applicable regulatory requirements.

Emeka Duruigbo, a professor of law at Texas Southern University, licensed to practice law in Nigeria and the US, said "greater clarity would be beneficial" but maintained: “Violating the three-kilometer buffer zone or other blasting rules under the National Environmental (Quarrying and Blasting Operations) Regulations triggers significant legal, financial, and operational penalties.”

Experts say the regulations that are supposed to ensure safe blasting distance are not often enforced.

“Enforcement of the regulation has itself been very weak. And so no one is really being held responsible,” said Gbenga Okunlola, an economic geology professor at the University of Ibadan.

In Nigeria, mining oversight is primarily the responsibility of the federal government, with states playing a secondary but important role in enforcing state-level obligations. This means that both the Abuja and Osun State governments are responsible in various ways for monitoring Segilola’s environmental impact.

Overlapping jurisdictions can create confusion, said Danjelle Midgley, an attorney with the Centre for Environmental Rights, an environmental justice group based in South Africa.

“If there's complexity, some mining companies find a less onerous regulation to comply with,” said Midgley.

Nigeria's National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency, and the Nigeria Ministry of Solid Minerals, did not respond to requests for comment.

Professor Adekilekun Jimonda Lukuman, special adviser on mining to the government of Osun state, said authorities were monitoring water and air pollution by Segilola.

“We have some environmental cases that we want to use to ask them questions,” he said.

Accidents at work

Over two years before Adegboyega was killed, records show another fatality was recorded at the Segilola mine during the mine’s construction phase.

Thor said the incident involved a contractor’s welder who died from injuries sustained during an electrical accident “resulting from a failure to comply with established safety procedures.”

A year after Adegboyega’s death in 2023, Thor’s sustainability report, which covered its Nigeria and Senegal projects, described a loose wheel on a vendor truck killing a community member.

That same year, the company said it had issued “stop-work orders” to several of its contractors after workplace injuries more than doubled.

Thor refused to confirm the location of the community fatality caused by the vendor truck and to name the vendor involved. Nor did the company share the names of other contractors who were issued stop work orders to address the growing trend in injuries.

In an August 2024 news release, Thor disclosed a “significant increase in reporting on near misses, unsafe acts, and unsafe conditions” surrounding the Segilola mine.

Thor said this trend “does not indicate that safety performance deteriorated or that more accidents were occurring. Rather, it reflects an increase in the reporting of hazards by employees, which is a recognised leading indicator of a positive and mature safety culture.”

The increase in August 2024, Thor said, corresponded to the introduction of new reporting initiatives, such as Hazard Reporting Cards “to make it easier for employees to identify and report unsafe acts, unsafe conditions and near misses” and health and safety key performance indicators.

'Breathing problems'

For the people of Iperindo, the effects of Segolia’s operations may last long after the blasting has stopped. Many of the people interviewed complained of health issues they believe are caused by dust from the explosions and contamination of water sources.

“The chemical they often use to blast, and the dust that often comes with it, are both destructive to the health of the people,” said Chief Samson Aderibigbe Alayeni, his speech clearly affected by coughs and sneezes. “God knows what remaining particles we have inhaled or drunk in our water.”

Aderibigbe said he had been diagnosed with breathing problems, which he blamed on the particles released into the air from the explosions. After spending 10 days in Iperindo, reporters working on this story said they developed similar symptoms, including dry throats, sneezing and burning eyes.

Satellite images show Iperindo coated in a blanket of white dust, settled over rooftops, roads, and farmland, blurring the outlines of houses and trees.

“When they blast the whole of the atmosphere will be filled with starchy white substance,” said Iya Paraga, who sells drinks from her stall. “Whenever I inhale it, I cough, and I am not alone.”

Thor says it complies with all regulations and that "the reported health symptoms attributed to unnamed residents and your reporters — including coughing, sneezing, burning eyes and dry throats — do not establish a causal relationship with our mining operations. Such symptoms are non-specific and may arise from a range of environmental, seasonal or other unrelated factors.

“To our knowledge, we have not received any substantiated medical or scientific evidence demonstrating that respiratory illness or other adverse health conditions within our host communities are attributable to our operations."

Thor’s stock exchange filings show greenhouse gas emissions from the Segilola project have surged as the mine has expanded, rising 120% in the year to March 2024 to almost 12,000 tons.

“An increase in greenhouse gas emissions associated with increased mining activity or production levels does not establish environmental harm to neighbouring communities,” Thor said adding that public reports acknowledge that noise, air, ground and surface water emissions ‘remain broadly compliant with the applicable Environmental Impact Assessment baseline’.”

Record revenues

With Segilola’s gold production at 91,910 ounces in 2025, financially, Thor has been riding high. The company reported record revenues of $325.5m in 2025, 69% higher than the previous year.

Last year, Thor paid out $17.2m in dividends to its shareholders. Its executives are benefitting from the gold rush too. In January, the company announced plans to grant more than 3.8 million shares to senior executives and staff over the next three years. Some 44.9 million shares are “reserved” for the company’s senior employees.

Segilola now plans to mine deeper into the earth in search of more lucrative veins of gold. Late last year, Thor confirmed it is now planning to drill down 7.5km into the earth after finding higher-grade deposits in the rock under its open-cast mine.

Public officials see Thor’s operations in Nigeria as a boon for the economy. Lukuman said the Osun state government’s annual tax receipts from mining have grown from 2-3m naira to more than a billion naira in the past three years, largely due to Segilola.

“We collected over one billion naira as tax in the last few months, and still counting,” he said.

The Osun state government owns more than five million of Thor’s shares, which were granted when the Canadian company bought Segilola a decade ago.

Could this create a conflict of interest for state authorities, given that they also licence and regulate the mine?

“It would definitely be a conflict of interest if they are both benefitting from the mine’s operations as shareholders and enforcing and implementing all those laws,” said Midgley, from the CER.

Thor strongly rejected any conflict of interest: “Our decision to provide an equity interest to the state and host communities in 2016 reflects our commitment to responsible stakeholder participation and community partnership.

“Similar arrangements have become increasingly common across a number of African mining jurisdictions as governments seek to ensure that host communities and sub-national governments participate in the long-term economic benefits generated by major mining projects.”

Lifted by Segilola’s success, Thor is now expanding across Nigeria. Over the past six years, the company has acquired or taken stakes in more than a dozen mining exploration licences in multiple states, increasing its exploration tenure by 86% to 1,697km2.

But in Iperindo, the financial success enjoyed by Thor is not celebrated. Not when the blasting that underpins hits so close to home.

* Lead image: Satellite images show Iperindo was within a three-kilometre radius of the mine when Thor started blasting in mid 2021.

* Editing & Story Support: Nick Mathiason, Caroline Henshaw & Ted Jeory

* This story was partly funded by the Pulitzer Center