Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources has undertaken to work closely with the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) as well as with law enforcement agencies, other relevant departments and entities to root out illegal mining in the country, especially in Gauteng.

“We will be working closely with all the stakeholders to ensure that we are part of the solution and also provide advice where it is needed. However, we foresee a potential lack of resources, as a force of change is often met with a force of resistance,” chairperson Sahlulele Luzipo noted at a meeting with the DMR last week.

DMR Deputy Minister Godfrey Oliphant said the department wanted by December to see “stability” in the fight against illegal mining, eventually leading to the total eradication of the practice by February next year.

“The battle against illegal mining is not getting any better but we are determined to reclaim our country from these thieves,” he commented.

Occuring in derelict and abandoned mines, the committee said illegal mining supported several other illegal activities, including the smuggling of women for sex work, the selling of illicit products, the creation of an informal banking system and an informal economy.

Luzipo outlined that the committee would also look into the social impact that illegal mining had on surrounding communities.

The committee, meanwhile, this week visited the Council for Geoscience, during which issues of budgetary constraints in conducting mining-related research into acid mine drainage (AMD) came to the fore.

“The committee agreed that it will look into the prospects of sufficient funding to receive adequate and reliable data analysis for soil, rocks and mineral formations including [the] impact of AMD,” it noted.

The oversight tour culminated in a visit and bilateral meeting with the National House of Traditional Leaders (NHTL), at which NHTL chairperson Kgosi Phopolo Pontsho Maubane appealed to the committee to develop legislation that would ensure mining companies gave shares to communities in which they operated, rather than only providing jobs.

“These mining companies only contribute a little through corporate social responsibility programmes, whereas their bosses walk away with billions of rands in profit,” he asserted.

The committee was to wrap up its two-day oversight tour with a visit to the Mintek AMD treatment plant, in Randfontein, and, thereafter, visit various sites in Krugersdorp and Ekurhuleni at which illegal mining is taking place.