The CAR has mineral resources such as uranium, lithium, diamonds, timber and gold, which are exploited by companies from the United States and China to Russia, Rwanda, Canada and France.

But landslides are common in illegal operations outside state control.

The latest happened on the morning of May 6 at the Be-Mbari site, in the Nana-Mambere prefecture in the west of the country, a local in the nearby village of Sagani, and an official from the municipality of Abba, said.

Many bodies are still buried and the search for the missing was ongoing, they added. Activity at the mine remained suspended.

There was no immediate official statement from the authorities.

The Be-Mbari site is located in a remote, hard-to-reach area where several armed groups opposed to the state operate.

"Control of this deposit has largely slipped from the state's control and failure to comply with artisanal mining regulations is believed to be behind the tragedies recorded in recent times," said media outlet Radio Ndeke Luka.

In mid-March, a landslide killed seven people at a mine in the village of Ngourroum, also in the west of the Central African Republic.

Another 20 were killed in February in Gordi, in the northeast.

Aicha Pemboura, a researcher at the Observatory on Organised Crime and Violence in Central Africa, said in an article published in March that artisanal mining was regulated in the CAR.

But she added: "Many miners and traders work without operating permits in unauthorised areas or circumvent official commercial channels."