ANA reports that Deputy Minister of Mineral Resources, Godfrey Oliphant, announced on Thursday that the government had taken a decision to gradually regularise the activities of illegal miners on a merit basis.  

Illegal mining is prevalent in SA and forms part of an underground economy, with spates of violence between the operators.  “The only way to minimize and combat illegal mining is to legalize it.  We have taken a decision that says where it is safe to do so, let us legalize,” Oliphant told delegates at the Mining Indaba.  He went on to say:  “We will deal with each situation as it comes.  The dangerous ones are in Gauteng because they go underground, they mine the pillars, and as you’ve seen the number of corpses because they are gangsters as well.”  In the face of an increase in illicit activities, particularly on diamond fields, Oliphant last month struck a deal with Kimberley-based Ekapa Mining that illegal miners would be allowed to mine about 400 hectares on Ekapa properties.

• Read this report in full at The Citizen

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