Thousands of panners invade disused mine

THOUSANDS of illegal panners have returned to invade the disused hazardous old Motapa Mine, in Matabeleland North Province, which has claimed at least six lives in the past few weeks.

Police have since been called in to disperse illegal miners, who had since Monday gathered in their numbers despite the oblivious danger.

Ward 8 councillor Herbert Ngwendu (Ward 8), whose area covers the mine confirmed that police had since been called to diffuse the situation.

“Two water tankers, as well as riot police are on the ground,” he said.

About 15 illegal gold panners were last week feared to have died in the disused mine tunnel, before police released official figures and names of the deceased.

The six died after the tunnel caved in on them and other panners, who were rescued by a rescue team from How Mine and Isabella Mine.

The panners have since dug up more holes to access the main tunnel that had been closed after the deaths.

The situation at the disused mine is said to be uncontrollable, as there are allegations that some bigwigs were also involved and were sponsoring the panners to extract gold.

A worker from a nearby mine said the deaths of the panners failed to deter others from continuing with the search for gold.

“The situation here is just uncontrollable, these people are coming in their numbers and the shafts they make are not sturdy enough to prevent any cave in.

“It is also sad to note that some bigwigs are part of these people,” said the worker.

An illegal panner at the mine said they would never stop panning as it was their source of livelihood and the disused mine was rich in gold.