Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
James Neo Tshoaeli allegedly ran operations at an abandoned gold mine where 78 ... BBC News. January 20, 2025 at 7:19 AM ... The dangerous world of illegal mining in South Africa. Illegal trade ...
People watch as Senzo Mchunu, South African police minister (not pictured), inspects outside the mineshaft where it is estimated that hundreds of illegal miners are believed to be hiding ...
The South African government has launched a rescue operation at an abandoned gold mine in the country’s North West province, where at least 109 men have died, a group representing the miners ...
South Africa's government says it will let thousands of illegal miners starve until they accept their fate and emerge from an abandoned shaft to face arrest. South Africa is trying to starve 4,000 ...
South African authorities have for years struggled to stop groups of miners from going into some of the gold-rich country's 6,000 abandoned or closed mines to search for leftover deposits. According to officials, South Africa lost more than $3 billion in gold to the illicit trade last year.
Some members of the local community say their relatives have been in the mine for nearly six months, since July. Illegal mining is common in parts of gold-rich South Africa where companies close down mines that are no longer profitable, leaving informal miners to illegally enter them to try and find leftover deposits.
The Stilfontein gold mine in North West Province was once a major gold producer but ceased operations in 2013. [4] [5] Since its closure, it has been a site for illicit mining activity, with artisanal miners (known locally as zama zamas attempting to extract remaining gold deposits in the abandoned shafts. [6]
South Africa's illegal miners – called zama zamas, or "take a chance" in colloquial Zulu – are estimated to number more than 50,000, a tenfold increase in two decades.