South Africa: Over 1,400 trapped illegal miners resurface

A significant number of illegal miners have emerged from disused mine shafts in the Stilfontein area of North West province, South Africa, following increased police presence, police said.

Spokesperson for the South African Police in North West Province, Colonel Adele Myburgh, told local media that since the beginning of November, over 1,420 illegal miners have surfaced from various abandoned shafts.

“Up until Friday, a total of 1414 illegal miners resurfaced at various abandoned mine shafts and Margaret mine shaft in Stilfontein. Eight bodies in total were recovered at Buffelsfontein nr 11 Shaft.

"On Saturday morning, six more illicit miners surfaced at Margaret shaft. They were all Mozambican foreign nationals. The total illicit miners who resurfaced are 1420,” Myburgh said at a briefing at the mine site over the weekend.

Illegal mining

The intensive police operation, aimed at curbing illegal mining activities, has led to a steady stream of miners coming out of the dangerous underground tunnels.

This includes the controversial mine Shaft 11, where illegal miners have had a standoff with police for more than a month.

South African authorities last month accused the miners of illegally entering the mines to dig for gold and have refused to emerge for fear of being arrested.

But following deteriorating health conditions underground, some of the miners have resurfaced. It remains unclear how many miners are still underground.

Rescue mission

Last week, emergency workers said they were racing against time to rescue trapped illegal miners underground after several bodies from mine shafts were recovered.

Those rescued alive told local media they are being forced to mine gold underground by heavily armed men often referred to as "zama zamas," which means "take a chance" in Zulu.

The gangs refuse to let the miners leave the mines even as health conditions underground deteriorated, state broadcaster SABC reports.

South Africa says it will continue working to tackle illegal mining in the country, which poses significant risks to the lives of miners and damages the environment.

In November last year, President Cyril Ramaphosa authorised the deployment of 3,300 South African National Defence Force (SANDF) personnel to support SAPS in their fight against illegal mining.

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