A total of 118 illegal miners were brought to the surface yesterday at an abandoned gold mine in Stilfontein in the North West Province, 36 of them confirmed dead, says police.
As the rescue operations entered day two, "a total of 118 illegal miners have been extracted as of 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday," said South African Police Service national spokesperson Athlenda Mathe.
Mathe said on day one, which was yesterday, 35 illegal miners were rescued, 9 of them dead. And today, "a total of 83 illegal miners have been extracted: 56 alive and 27 certified dead."
"All 82 individuals arrested are facing charges of illegal mining, trespassing and contravention of the Immigration Act," she said.
Also today, South African Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources Gwede Mantashe and Police Minister Senzo Mchunu visited the mine to view the rescue operations. Mantashe described the situation in Stilfontein as criminal, calling it "foreigners attacking," Xinhua reported.
The crisis in Stilfontein has been going on for months, 1,500+ illegal miners have surfaced so far. In December 2024 at least 8 bodies were retrieved. Many of the illegal miners are from neighboring countries.
In December earlier, 16 illegal miners were rescued from an old mine shaft in Sabie, a small town in Mpumalanga Province, eastern South Africa where they were trapped while illegal mining.
"The increase in illegal mining activities in seven hotspot provinces, which include Mpumalanga where we are now and North West Province where we are heading to later this afternoon, called for an immediate integrated and multidisciplinary approach to put a stop to these illicit mining activities," said South African Police Service (SAPS) National Commissioner Sehlahle Fannie Masemola.
