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The nation also loses more than $1 billion to illegal mining annually, with the black market trade in gold linked to violent turf wars, according to a parliamentary brief. For more CNN news and ...
South African authorities began a siege of the mine in August 2024, cutting off food, water and medicine supplies, in an attempt to force illegal miners to come to the surface and be arrested. [1] The blocking of key shaft exits trapped miners underground, with reports suggesting that many were unable to resurface, fearing arrest or retribution ...
Swissaid estimates that artisanal and small-scale gold mining in African countries produced between 443 and 596 tonnes of gold in 2022. Of this, more than 70 percent is not declared.
Rescuers and South African Police Service (SAPS) officers carry remains in blue body bags during a rescue operation to retrieve illegal miners from an abandoned gold shaft in Stilfontein on ...
Zama zamas are illegal artisanal miners in South Africa who occupy closed or operational mines to mine for minerals such as gold, iron ore, coal, and manganese. The term zama zama loosely translates to "take a chance" in isiZulu and they use rudimentary tools and explosives for mining.
Illegal gold miners, commonly referred to as "zama zamas", operate in abandoned mine shafts and use the empty gas cylinders, known as "phendukas", to process the stolen ore. The cylinders, often stolen, are first drained of gas, then cut open so that ore can be placed in them along with a steel ball which crushes the ore as the cylinder is rotated.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa deployed more than 3,000 troops to combat illegal mining activity last November. Since the operation's creation through the beginning of this month, more ...
At least 31 people are suspected to have died in a methane gas explosion at a disused gold mine in South Africa around the third week of May in 2023. [3] [2] [4] [5] [6]The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) reported late on 22 June 2023 that the miners had died in a mining shaft at the abandoned Virginia mine in Welkom, Free State.