TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Canadian gold miners with operations in Burkina Faso on Thursday said despite the declared state of emergency, their operations were continuing uninterrupted.

Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore had declared a state of emergency following violent protests in the capital that saw demonstrators storm and torch the Parliament buildings. Protesters had disrupted the capital and two other towns.

Iamgold reported that its Essakane mine continued to operate without interruption despite civil unrest in the capital of Ouagadougou, located about 320 km from the mine. The miner said all of its employees were safe and accounted for, and operations continued uninterrupted.

Essakane generated its own power on site.

Semafo said it was “business as usual” and that the unrest in Burkina Faso had not caused any disruptions to normal course operations at its Mana mine.

Truee Gold Mining also reported that operations at the Karma gold project, located about 185 km from Ouagadougou, were uninterrupted, on-site work continued and all its employees were accounted for and safe.

The companies said they were monitoring the situation closely.