More Illegal Miners

The illegal miner situation has reared its ugly head at Klipwal once again over the past few weeks after the problem seemed to have been solved. Lloyd detained two of the miners about a month ago and they were taken into police custody, given a court date, and have since been released on bail. Since then, a lock has been installed at the 6 level adit with a 24-hour security guard post as well. Nobody has been in or out after hours with that lock in place.

The only other known opening for the mine is on the opposite north side, where a ventilation shaft rises up next to the soccer field. There is a small manhole-like opening there covered with an iron cover. Below this cover drops a vertical shaft about 2 meters in diameter and down to 4 level over 100 meters below. I’ve seen the ladders in this north shaft, and they are very poorly connected to heavily corroded iron cross-beams. It’s an extremely dangerous place for people to go which is why nobody is allowed to go down North shaft.
Over the past few weeks, the security guards have reported seeing people going in and out of north shaft at various times during the night. A few attempted stake-outs by Lloyd and others at the mine have been fruitless, but on Saturday night, just I sat down to watch a movie at Nick’s house, he got a call from the security captain, Elvis. They had caught two miners as they were exiting the shaft, and had them detained. Just like last time, Nick called the Pongola police station and a car was sent to the mine right away. This time I went down to North shaft to see what was up.

When I arrived, the two illegal miners were handcuffed by the police who had just arrived. A lot of my co-workers were there, looking down the hole at Thys who went down to recover the miners’ tools. Eventually he emerged from the opening, struggling with the weight of the bags on his back. They were makeshift backpacks made from those plastic woven bags you get at places like Ikea. One bag, about the size of a standard backpacking backpack, was completely filled to the brim with rocks. The sheer weight was remarkable; just how these people carry these bags on these unstable ladders is beyond comprehension. The rocks themselves were mostly quartz that they were breaking off from the main mineralised zone. Along with the rocks they carried lamps, extra batteries, water bottles, food, and hammer and chisels.

It was another sad reminder of the ugly side of the gold mining business. Powered by corrupt businessmen trading this illegally-produced gold, these hapless illegal miners work through the night, sometimes staying underground for days at a time under the most difficult conditions with no safety equipment. And after milling the rock down and treating it with Mercury, they sell the product on for a fraction of its true price. When the police asked if there were more people down there, they said there were at least three more. Lloyd is due to arrive on Monday, and I know exactly what he’ll be doing when he gets here: going underground to look for them.