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SA cops involved in R3m/a month goldmine-piracy operation in Barberton – claim

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Original Post Date: 2008-03-07 Time: 00:00:00  Posted By: JoAn

Submitted by Adriana Stuijt:

Barberton police are suspected to be involved in a massive R3-million a month illegal and highly dangerous gold-mining piracy-operation in three goldmines in the Mpumalanga’s Barberton area.

Casper Strydom, the general manager of the Sheba, New Consort and Fairview gold-mines, said ‘informants had told him that local policemen were providing guns and transport to about 60 to 100 illegal miners.’

This extremely dangerous, tribal-based gold-mine hijacking gang — armed with AK-47s and police-issue 9mm handguns — live underground for months on end and endanger everyone in the mines by even setting off underground explosions.

They melt down the gold-ore chopped out of the ‘hijacked’ mineshafts in hostel-backyard smelters and harvest about 20kg of illegal gold a month, says Strydom.

“Yet not a single illegal miner has ever been arrested by the Barberton police in the five years that I’ve been here,” he said.

He said only ONE illegal miner was ever arrested in Barberton – but he was actually caught by a police task-force sent into the mines from Gauteng in November last year.

He repeated that not one of the local cops have ever arrested any of these illegal gold-miners.

Strydom said there could be as many as 60 to 100 illegal miners underground each day, armed with AK47s and 9mm firearms.

“Most of them are (local tribesmen) from Barberton, Low’s Creek or from Zimbabwe and Mozambique,” he said.
He said the mine loses about 20kg of gold worth R3m per month to these extremely dangerous gold diggers.
“They are getting more and more aggressive,” he said.
“They are setting off explosives underground and removing safety systems that have been put in place, thereby compromising their own safety and of many others,” he added.

Since 2006 about 20 illegal miners had actually died in underground rock falls through their own fault he noted.

He has written an urgent letter asking for help from Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula — but has never even received a response.

The ministry’s spokesman Hangwani Mulaudzi claims that they were ‘ unaware of the matter’ when approached for comment this week.

Source: http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_2252197,00.html