Five Australian miners have been stranded in Mali, caught inside the country's worsening civil war.
According to The West Australian one miner is due to be married in Western Australia next weekend and his brother, the best man, is also stranded.
The West Australian reports the workers were due to leave the Byrnecut gold mine on Saturday but could not cross the Mali border because their visas were not in order.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has warned Australians not to travel to Mali because of the rise of civil strife, kidnapping, and banditry.
There are several Australian-based mining companies focused on Mali and West Africa, and most have previously advised that the coup was not impacting their production.
Last week Perth-based Oklo Resources said several mining companies had met with coup leaders to stress the importance of mining on Mali's economy.
Oklo said while it was not part of the meeting military leaders had advised they would keep the borders open for mining companies to move supplies.
According to Fairfax Media apart from mining services Mali's borders are otherwise closed.
In other international mining news, production at one of Papua New Guinea's largest gold mines stopped last week after it was overrun with hundreds of illegal miners.
According to the ABC the miners broke into the Barrick Gold site and attacked workers and damaged equipment.
Image: Iamgold