A team of senior police and mining officials, assisted by representatives of the mining industry, cracked down on a vast illegal mining operation in Roodepoort on 23 July.
The land in Roodepoort previously had been used as a gold processing plant for Durban Roodepoort Deep Mine and was left in a completely unrehabilitated state. Illegal miners started their activities and sold their gold to illicit buyers.
Despite various raids by authorities in the past, it has become a massive-scale operation.
The recent raid came in the light of the committee on illegal mining established by the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR). It consists of various role-players, regulatory authorities, the industry and unions. This committee has been hard at work getting all role-players to commit to the process.
“The problem is that after arrests are made it seems that the Prosecuting Authority does not see the urgency to have the offenders prosecuted. They are given bail and they continue their practice,” says Nico Pienaar, director of the Aggregate and Sand Producers Association of Southern Africa (Aspasa), an organisation that is an active member of the committee on illegal mining.
He says the South African Police Service (SAPS) is working hard on this problem and the officials of the DMR are committed and see the value of protecting the industry. For many years Aspasa has raised the issue of illegal mining in the aggregate and sand industry, which not only threatens the livelihood of legal operators, but also compromises the safety of the workers, the environment and the surrounding communities’ future land use. Aspasa has played an active role since the establishment of the committee.
“When the DMR approached us for help with the West Rand problem, we contacted some of our local members and the response was very favourable. WG Wearne agreed to let the team use one of its big front-end loaders to flatten the area where the illegal gold mining was taking place and supplied two machines to help destroy the illegal mining site by levelling the material. This was a token of the industry’s commitment to working with the regulators,” says Pienaar.
He adds that the next focus area will be on illegal sand, gravel and aggregate mining in the wider Gauteng region.
“Aspasa is working on a document that deals with issues such as borrow pits, road building material and municipal quarries. This document will show the unequal treatment of the formal commercial industry that has to compete with the informal and less controlled industry. The rules of engagement clearly are not equal and the argument is that if lessor rules apply for a particular section of the industry, then these also must apply for the formal commercial operation. There cannot be two sets of standards. Pain has to be felt by all,” Pienaar says.
