At least 14 artisanal miners have been reported dead, with another eight injured, following a mine dump collapse in South Africa.
The BBC reports that provincial police commissioner Arthur Peter Adams said search and rescue operations were underway on the evening of 11 August, with the number of people potentially still trapped at the site unclear.
The collapse occurred while miners were digging for platinum group metals at an unused dump on a private company’s site. Adams told the media that “the walls of the dumping site … caved in on them”.
The injured miners are all reportedly from Lesotho, while the nationalities of those killed have not yet been confirmed.
The site itself is part of a legal mining operation. However, it is unclear how the miners gained access.
Illegal mining is common in South Africa, with ‘zama zamas’ (translated from Zulu as ‘those who try their luck’) seeking to make a living by mining in abandoned sites and mine dumps.
Adams confirmed that the zama zamas are all undocumented foreign nationals and will face charges for illegal mining and trespassing.
Write to Amy Rotman at Mining.com.au
Images: BBC
