At least 14 suspected illegal miners have died, and eight more were hurt when part of a disused mine dump gave way near Rustenburg in South Africa's N
At least 14 suspected illegal miners have died, and eight more were hurt when part of a disused mine dump gave way near Rustenburg in South Africa’s North West province on Monday night.
Provincial police commissioner Arthur Peter Adams said search and rescue teams were still working to determine whether additional people remained trapped at the scene, and that the miners had been digging for platinum group metals at an abandoned dump on privately owned land when the ground collapsed.
U.S. News & World Report
The incident took place close to Rustenburg, one of the country’s major platinum-mining centres, roughly 130 kilometres northwest of Johannesburg.
Of those injured, three were treated at a hospital and then taken into custody on suspicion of illegal mining, while the remaining five stayed hospitalised under police guard.
Officials said the miners who survived came from Lesotho, though the identities and nationalities of those who died have not yet been established.
Illegal mining has long been a persistent and often deadly issue in South Africa, frequently linked to organised crime networks.
These informal prospectors, commonly called “zama zamas”, a term roughly meaning “chance takers” — often work in armed groups that clash with rival gangs and have been blamed for intimidating nearby communities.
Many undocumented miners enter old, decommissioned mines to salvage whatever ore remains, sometimes doing so under the control of criminal operators.
The country’s deadliest recent episode tied to illegal mining came in late 2024, when a months-long standoff at a gold mine surrounded by police left more than 80 miners dead underground.
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