The impact of illegal mining

The illegal mining has been going on for months and seems to only be getting worse. There have been gun wars breaking out between what is suspected to be rival groups of miners and just two weeks ago, seven miners died and 12 were injured in Shaft 7 at Kingsway.

Businesses around Springs, mostly those who operate in the area of the mining shafts, are being badly affected by the effects of the illegal mining.

One of the most affected businesses is Sappi, who are losing thousands of rands having to repair pipes and boreholes which are being destroyed by the illegal miners.

“The illegal miners damage our industrial effluent pipeline in the area repeatedly, as they require water for their mining activities.

“This activity requires reporting to the relevant authorities. We have mentioned this to the Department of Water Affairs, however, due to the regular number of these incidents, we cannot report each occurrence,” says Elijah Masondo, regional communications manager of Sappi.

He says the illegal mining is putting some of Sappi’s employees in danger.

“The employees that conduct the borehole sampling are often unable to go to these sites due to safety concerns.”

He says that the casing of the boreholes are being broken or completely removed.

“We have taken this up with the local police and have been advised that nothing can be done as the courts let offenders go as they see this issue as petty crime. We have tried to discuss these challenges with the Local Safety and Security Cluster Commander, but our phone calls have not been returned and e-mails have not been responded to.”

Gold One has also been affected, but not as badly.

“At Modder East we have very tight security and are not ‘holed’ into any old working areas and therefore have no illegal mining activity on the mine,” says Grant Stuart, VP of investor relations at Gold One.

“We take illegal mining activity very seriously and are very active in minimising the impact, not only on our assets, and are active with the local authorities and regulators in addressing the issues and are active participants in closing access to old shafts in the area.”

Sporting groups in Springs, especially mountain bikers and off-road motorcycle riders, are also affected when wanting to go out on a weekend.

Derek McCarogher says, “We cycle on mountain bikes and often when we see the miners we try to steer clear of them, knowing that they have firearms.”

Off-road biker, Keaton John comments: “We are, or used to be, a big off-road crew but the problem is the miners are digging holes everywhere and without us knowing where the next hole is, it becomes risky for us to go out. I sold my bike because of that.

“We drive at 80 to 90km/h and if we hit the hole at that speed it can result in death or hospitalisation. But from there, if we drive past them, they don’t do anything to us,” says John.

Another Springs resident, Amanda Stander says, “There is always a new hole or fence popping up, but I think coming around a corner with your off-road bike, sometimes the illegal dumping left all over the mine dumps poses just as much danger as illegal miners would.”