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STILFONTEIN, South Africa (Reuters) -Desperate relatives of possibly hundreds of illegal miners stuck underground in a disused mine shaft in South Africa waited outside the site on Friday in the ...
Stilfontein (Afrikaans for quiet spring) is a former mining town which is located on the N12 (National Road) with 17,942 inhabitants, situated between Klerksdorp and Potchefstroom in North West Province of South Africa. It was incorporated into the City of Matlosana and some municipality administration is located in Matlosana (Klerksdorp).
The Stilfontein gold mine in North West Province was once a major gold producer but ceased operations in 2013. [4] [5] Since its closure, it has been a site for illicit mining activity, with artisanal miners (known locally as zama zamas attempting to extract remaining gold deposits in the abandoned shafts. [6]
South Africa’s Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) described the deaths at the Stilfontein mine, located around 97 miles (156 kilometers) southwest of Johannesburg, as an “unfolding massacre.”
Several hundred people are believed to remain in an illegal mine in South Africa after the government cut off vital supplies and refused to help them, in a dramatic bid to crack down on the industry.
STILFONTEIN, South Africa (AP) — Months after South African authorities initially cut off supplies to miners working illegally in an abandoned gold mine, rescuers brought dozens of bodies and emaciated survivors to the surface Tuesday with hundreds more still believed to be underground, many of them dead and others too weak to come out on their own.
STILFONTEIN, South Africa (AP) — Rescuers and volunteers have pulled at least 78 dead miners and more than 160 survivors from an abandoned South African gold mine, where they have languished for over two months during a standoff with authorities who demanded they surrender to police because they were mining illegally.
Some members of the local community say their relatives have been in the mine for nearly six months, since July. Illegal mining is common in parts of gold-rich South Africa where companies close down mines that are no longer profitable, leaving informal miners to illegally enter them to try and find leftover deposits.