Call to regulate artisanal miners -- and outlaw illegals
THE South African mining industry says the increase in illegal mining, which is costing the country about R6-billion a year, is becoming a challenge worldwide.
AngloGold Ashanti, which made headlines last year when its Obuasi mine in Ghana was overrun by illegal miners, said the trouble spots in South Africa had been the abandoned mines in the Durban Roodepoort Deep and Blyvooruitzicht areas west of Johannesburg.
“It’s clear that this is an important issue that requires close attention from all stakeholders in the industry to ensure we prevent the obvious and significant safety, social and environmental risks that flow from this illegal activity,” said spokesman Chris Nthite.
Illegal mining, which first started at abandoned mines, has spread to operating mines, with miners walking and crawling as far as 4km underground to reach the most profitable sites.
Speaking at the release of the mining industry’s 2016 health and safety statistics this week, acting chief inspector of mines Xolile Mbonambi said it was difficult to provide statistics for fatalities of illegal miners.
“It will be irresponsible . . . Those figures will be inaccurate,” he said.
Nthite said AngloGold Ashanti continued to monitor the trend locally. The company’s approach of securing the entrances to its operational sites had been effective.
“Our security systems and processes, which included the technology to monitor every person who proceeds underground, has helped us mitigate this risk.”
According to the Chamber of Mines of South Africa, the increase in illegal mining is largely driven by the country’s socioeconomic conditions, exacerbated by rising unemployment and poverty as well as the influx of illegal immigrants.
“It was initially based on the surge in the gold price during the bull market of the first decade of this century. Despite the fall in dollar gold price since 2011, the rand gold price has held sufficiently steady to keep illegal mining profitable,” it said.
The chamber said law enforcement had been hampered by a lack of resources.
Gold Fields spokesman Sven Lunsche said there had been no illegal mining at the company’s only remaining South African asset, South Deep.
At its two Ghanaian mines there had been limited trespassing by illegal miners known as galamsey. Ten small groups had been evicted.
Extensive engagement with local communities had helped to curb illegal mining.
“In most cases local communities are opposed to galamsey due to the accompanying socioeconomic impact of higher crime, prostitution, and environmental degradation,” said Lunsche.
Chris Rutledge, mining and extractives co-ordinator for anti-poverty agency ActionAid South Africa, said the term “illegal mining” was inappropriate because it was a matter of people being denied the right to work by government policy that allowed corporations to dominate the extraction of resources.
“The trend is growing, driven by the high number of unemployed people. There should be some form of recognition of the trade and regulations put in place where opportunities are afforded to artisanal miners. If there is no regulation in an economic activity, criminals invest in it.”
He said a similar situation had arisen in the taxi industry in the early ’80s when the government refused to recognise it.
“The criminals dominated the industry and there was bloodshed. This is what is happening in mining. Artisanal miners are not criminals but syndicates prey on them because there is no regulation that ensures a market for them. Instead the government colludes with corporates and uses strong-arm tactics on artisanal miners,” said Rutledge.
Nthite said AngloGold did not use the terms “illegal mining” and “artisanal mining” interchangeably.
“We make a clear distinction between the two. Illegal mining refers to any mining activities that are not licensed, contravening the laws of the host country, including activity on a company’s licensed area without the prior consent of the licence holder,” he said.
Lunsche said Gold Fields, too, believed there was a difference between illegal and artisanal mining.
“We support the ‘normalisation’ of artisanal mining, both here and in Ghana. In Ghana the Minerals Commission . . . is trying to regulate artisanal mining and outlaw illegal mining.”