‘Gold rush’ quarry closed to public

A SHALE quarry at the centre of a “gold” rush in southern KwaZulu-Natal has been declared off-limits as police struggle to fend off bandits.

Riot police have been deployed to KwaMachi‚ outside Harding‚ to protect the quarry from hundreds of people who descended on the site 10 days ago.

On Sunday, Economic Development‚ Tourism and Environmental Affairs MEC Sihle Zikalala declared that the site was a no-go area.

“We must ensure that the area is enclosed for proper investigation by the Department of Mineral Resources.”

Zikalala was speaking at a stakeholder engagement session in Harding.

“What we have are stones which look like gold.

“We need to make sure that no one can access that area and the police will ensure that.”

His call comes after several people were injured in rockfalls at the quarry.

Clashes between rival miners have also been recorded.

Zikalala said the discovery had caused a surge in truancy at schools‚ with children ditching classes to mine at the quarry.

The police’s Ugu District Cluster Commander, Bongani Sibiya, said officers had been pressed to keep people off the site.

He said miners had damaged lengths of razor wire‚ as well as stolen wheels from the trailers that deployed them.

“One of our razor wire trailers was overturned down the hillside by these miners,” he said.

“We are doing all that is possible to secure the site.”

Mineral resources department spokeswoman Nqobile Khanyile said test results on the site were still inconclusive.

“The department‚ together with the Council for Geoscience, has already taken samples of the rocks found and have taken it for lab testing‚ the results of which will be available in a few weeks‚” she said.

“The minister of mineral resources is empowered in terms of Section 50 of the MPRDA [Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act] to investigate the occurrence of or to establish if any mineral or geological formation occurs on or under land‚ as well as the nature and extent of mineral resources.”

She said further testing would be conducted using various methods‚ now that the site had been secured.