Two suspects were arrested after another successful illegal mining operation last week.
According to Colonel André Laing from Roodepoort Police, the two suspects were caught while they were busy melting the gold concentrate in a shack in Durban Deep. “This is the last phase in the illegal mining process where mercury and Borax powder is added to the dust to extract gold nuggets.”
Laing explains the process of illegal mining on this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlBui9AoP5I&feature=youtu.be
Laing said they also confiscated two truck and four bakkie loads of illegal mining equipment as well as detonators. “I believe if we continue to confiscate their equipment, it definitely will slow down the illegal mining process because they have to spend time to construct the equipment again. We slowly but surely are making progress,” Laing explained.
An inside look into illegal mining
He said the detonators used seem to be a different kind and probably are brought in from Zimbabwe.
The equipment such as the pendukas, metal balls and buckets will be chopped up and the gold dust will be handed over to Mogale Mine to process.
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Also read: Police continues fighting illegal mining
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