Police in standoff with hundreds of illegal miners in disused shaft
South African police were in a standoff on Thursday with hundreds of illegal miners believed to be underground in a disused shaft, a day after a cabinet minister said the government was trying to "smoke them out".
Police have been trying for weeks to empty the abandoned gold mine in the North West province as part of a crackdown on illegal mining, which has plagued South Africa for decades through small-time pilfering and organised criminal networks.
More than 1 000 illegal miners resurfaced after police cut off their food and water supplies, but a police spokesperson said hundreds more could still be underground.
A decomposed body was brought up on Thursday, with pathologists on the scene, spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said.
On Wednesday, asked whether the government would send help to the zama-zamas - a local term for illegal miners from the Zulu expression for "taking a chance" - Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said: "We are not sending help to criminals. We are going to smoke them out."
Senior police and defence officials are expected to visit the area on Friday to "reinforce the government's commitment to bringing this operation to a safe and lawful conclusion", according to a media advisory from the police.
Illegal gold mining costs South Africa's government and industry hundreds of millions of dollars annually in lost sales, taxes and royalties, according to an estimate by a mining industry body.
Comments
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
Immersive Technologies is the world's largest, proven and tested supplier of simulator training solutions to the global resources industry.
VISIT SHOWROOM
Goodwin Submersible Pumps Africa is sole distributors for Goodwin electrically driven, submersible, abrasion resistance slurry pumps.
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
