Official rescue team to ensure illegal miners resurface from abandoned Stilfontein mine

JOHANNESBURG - An official rescue team is expected to begin work on Tuesday morning to haul an unknown number of illegal miners back to the surface at an abandoned gold mine in Stilfontein.

Hundreds if not thousands of zama zamas or illegal miners are refusing to resurface from a disused shaft at the old Buffelsfontien mine in the North-West in a tense standoff with law enforcement.

As police double down on the fight against illegal mining in the area it’s believed they’re hiding out in fear of arrest.

In the past month, over one thousand illegal miners have been arrested in the province as part of Operation Vala Umgodi.

ALSO READ

• Extracting illegal miners from Stilfontein shaft could take days
• 'We are rescuing criminals here' - Govt to save illegal miners stuck in stuck in NW shaft

MEC for community safety in the North West Wessels Morweng said that an official rescue team is expected to establish the number of illegal miners underground and the equipment needed to roll out the rescue plan.

“So we’ve got systems in place that they’ve indicated on their plan that they’re going to use to validate that number and then from that number, it is that which will inform how will the plan unfold and what time will the plan take for us to conclude the rescue plan,” said Morweng.

He added that once there is a clear picture of how the shaft looks and all the safety precautions are in place, technical work will begin.

“The machine that will be sent will be a lift that must be able to lift them up, it’s as simple as that," said Morweng.

While it’s unclear who will cover the full cost of the exercise,  Morweng said procurement processes have been initiated.