Licensed mining companies buying gold from illegal miners, research finds
A research paper by the Bench Marks Foundation found that legitimate mining companies would buy minerals from zama zamas.
Some of the illegal miners in Stilfontein in North West get medical attention. Scores of illegal miners are still trapped underground. Picture: SAPS
JOHANNESBURG - Licensed mining companies are allegedly purchasing gold from illegal miners.
A research paper by the Bench Marks Foundation found that legitimate mining companies would buy minerals from zama zamas.
This as hundreds, and possibly thousands of illegal miners, remain underground at a disused mining shaft in Stilfontein, in the North West.
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Postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Cape Town, Nteboheng Phakisi-Portas, said that mining was not sustainable in South Africa.
During research into illegal mining in SA, she found that legitimate mining companies were supporting the illegal mining sector.
"We found out that illegal miners are not exclusively foreign nationals and that many South Africans are involved. Also, we found out that it is the mining companies that are buying gold from illegal miners."
She said that they had made several submissions for the artisanal and small-scale mining policy, which has yet to be passed into law.
"We made a lot of suggestions that artisanal mining should be legalised and I think Gwede Mantashe is really dragging his feet as far as this issue is concerned."
There are currently more than 6,000 abandoned mines in SA, many of which have become a haven for illegal mining.