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EWN reports that two more illegal miners have resurfaced from Sheba gold mine in Mpumalanga, bringing the total taken into custody since Friday to over 550.
The latest resurfacings come amid continued searches underground as officers monitor entrances and tunnels into the mine's shafts. Police said one of the two men had a serious arm injury and both were being treated before they were formally processed. Since Friday’s operation that netted 494 illegal miners, another 24 were detained on Monday, 28 on Tuesday, and now two more have come up from the mine's tunnels that stretch for kilometres under the Barberton hills. Four of the illegal miners arrested at the mine are juveniles.
With unemployment pushing 50% in parts of Mpumalanga, many locals turn to illegal mining for survival. The mine said it was trying to tackle that problem by investing in job creation projects, but illegal mining was strangling those efforts, reducing revenue, jeopardising community programmes and putting even more jobs at risk. The company said the constant resurfacings showed the scale of the challenge and it warned that if the problem persisted, Sheba’s future and local livelihoods would be in jeopardy.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Mongezi Koko at EWN
- Read too, Community members in Barberton claim illegal mining will thrive due to bribery, at EWN
Get other news reports at the SA LabourNews home page