A total of 166 alive illegal miners, and 78 bodies of deceased ones have been retrieved by the government’s rescue operation at an abandoned mine in Stilfontein, North West, since the operation began on Monday.
National Police Spokesperson Brig Athlenda Mathe said as of 1.30pm on Wednesday, 34 alive illegal miners were retrieved and arrested.
18 more bodies retrieved
Mathe said 18 bodies of deceased illegal miners were retrieved.
On Monday, 26 alive illegal miners were retrieved and arrested, while nine were found dead.
On Tuesday, 106 alive illegal miners were retrieved and arrested. And 51 bodies of deceased illegal miners were retrieved.
This brings the total number of alive illegal miners retrieved since Monday to date to 166. The total number of deceased illegal miners retrieved since Monday to date is 78.
Only two are South African citizens
Mathe said Tuesday’s 106 alive illegal miners consist of 67 Mozambicans, 26 Lesotho nationals, 11 Zimbabweans and two South Africans.
The government’s rescue operation is currently underway at the site of Shaft 11 of the old Buffelsfontein gold mine. This is at the same mine in Stilfontein, North West.
Operations resumed at 6am on Wednesday. The operations take place from 6am to 10pm daily.
The government has enlisted the services of Mines Rescue Services (MRS) to carry out the rescue operation.
MRS rescue services
MRS uses a mobile rescue winder to retrieve the illegal miners holed underground. The mobile rescue winder lowers a cage underground to retrieve the illegal miners.
It is estimated that the rescue operation will cost government R12-million.
Police Minister Senzo Mchunu and Minerals and Petroleum Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe visited the site on Tuesday.
Mchunu said since August 2024 to January 12, over 1, 576 illegal miners have been arrested before the government extraction operation commenced.
Over 1, 500 arrested, some deported, since August 2024
Those arrested include the following nationalities: 997 of the arrested are Mozambicans, 427 are Zimbabweans, 118 are Basotho nationals from Lesotho, 21 are South Africans while one is from Malawi and another one from Congo.
Mchunu said 1, 540 illegal miners arrested are still in police custody.
He said 121 illegal miners have already been deported. These include 80 Mozambicans, 30 Basotho nationals, 10 Zimbabweans, and one Malawian.
Mchunu said 46 have already been found guilty of illegal mining, trespassing, and contravening the Immigration Act.
He said the court handed down a sentence of R12, 000 or six months wholly suspended imprisonment sentence for five years on condition that they are not found guilty of similar crimes.
Mchunu said various materials were confiscated since the start of Operation Vala Umgodi operations in December 2023. These include over 640kg of gold-bearing material and 6,2kg of refined gold. Also explosives, firearms, and cash amounting to R52-million were seized.
