The rescue company tasked by the government to extract illegal miners holed underground an abandoned mine in Stilfontein, North West, said it has called off the operation due to being unable to detect any more miners or bodies underground.
On Thursday, Mines Rescue Services (MRS) CEO Mannas Fourie said the company had taken a decision to stop the extraction operation because no illegal miners nor dead bodies were found on the day after a cage mounted with cameras was sent down underground.
No further people nor dead bodies located underground
“From our side the operation is off. We sent the cage 2, 200 metres deep and we could not see any people or hear any sounds. The level that we reached underground after sending the cage that deep was a water level. And we could not go any further than that.
“We did our final sweep, and we could not see any people. But we will speak with the authorities to determine what happens going forward and what the final steps are,” said Fourie.
After the conclusion of the government-led extraction operations on Wednesday night, two community volunteers who were part of the operation told mine rescue experts and police that there were no longer any illegal miners or dead bodies holed underground.
This prompted the police to verify this by themselves by relying on confirmation by the MRS. With their state-of-the-art equipment, MRS was able to give police a picture of what is happening underground.
Only water remains at that level
MRS then sent their cage underground Shaft 11 of the disused Buffelsfontein gold mine on Thursday morning. This was aimed at doing the final sweep, and just before 1pm, the cage was lifted out of the underground. It had not detected any illegal miners, bodies nor sounds of anyone.
The government-led extraction operation started on Monday until Wednesday night. And the operations started at 6am until 10pm daily.
MRS used a mobile rescue winder to retrieve the illegal miners holed underground. And the mobile rescue winder lowers a cage underground to retrieve the illegal miners.
The cage has three cameras mounted on it.
Its cage can take a maximum of six people at a time weighing a total of 450kg. It can also hold material weighing a total of 250kg.
Most illegal miners are foreign nationals
It is estimated that the extraction operation will cost government R12-million.
Through the operation from Monday to Wednesday, a total of 246 alive illegal miners were retrieved and arrested. In all, a total of 78 dead bodies of illegal miners were recovered at Shaft 11 of the old Buffelsfontein gold mine.
The nationalities of those arrested are: 128 Mozambicans, 80 Lesotho nationals, 33 Zimbabweans, and five South Africans.
National police spokesperson Brig Athlenda Mathe said among those arrested include alleged ringleaders. They are allegedly responsible for torturing and taking away food from other illegal miners.
Mathe said police are investigating these allegations of torture and starving other illegal miners.
Police Minister Senzo Mchunu and Mineral and Petroleum Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe visited the site on Tuesday.
More than 1, 500 illegal miners arrested since August
Before the government extraction operation started, Mchunu said more than 1, 576 illegal miners had been arrested between August 2024 and January 12.
They include 997 Mozambicans, 427 Zimbabweans, 118 Basotho, 21 South Africans, one Malawian, and a Congolese.
According to Mchunu, 1, 540 illegal miners who were arrested are still being detained.
He said 121 illegal miners have already been deported. These include 80 Mozambicans, 30 Basotho, 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 fine or six months of wholly suspended imprisonment for five years. This on condition that they are not found guilty of similar crimes.
