Illegal miners rescued
Four illegal miners trapped in a mine near Robertville on the West Rand were rescued on Monday afternoon, paramedics said.
"Rescue workers managed to reach them safely and they were removed from where they were trapped for the past three days in the old mine," ER24 spokesman Christo Venter said.
"Fortunately none of the men sustained any injury and they were removed from the scene after being taken into custody."
The miners were trapped when a mine shaft apparently collapsed.
The name of the mine was not known.
In September, the Mine Health and Safety Inspectorate reported that illegal mining had become a major problem in Gauteng.
Defunct mines in Gauteng were also being targeted by illegal miners, it said in its 2012/13 annual report.
"Illegal mining activities in the old, defunct mines in the East Rand and West Rand... have, in the past two years, become a major challenge for the [department of mineral resources], mining companies, and local authorities," the inspectorate said.
The same month, Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu said progress had been made in stopping illegal mining on the West Rand.
A total of 135 people had been arrested and some had been prosecuted, she said in Matholesville, near Roodepoort, in a report back to residents about progress made in curtailing illegal mining.
Comments
The
content
you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.
If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.
If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.
For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation