Miners ‘at war’ with organised gangs

SOUTH Africa’s gold miners are fighting a “war” against organised criminals, corrupt police and their own employees who are engaged in systemic theft from operating mines, Nash Lutchman, senior vice president for security at Sibanye Gold, said yesterday. Lutchman said Sibanye, the country’s biggest gold miner, had arrested 461 illegal miners at its Cooke operations, west of Johannesburg, this year. He said the company was losing about 3.5 percent to 4 percent of its gold production to illegal mining. “The government and the police need to tackle organised gangs that bring people from overseas and make them work underground,” Lutchman said. – Bloomberg

COCA-COLA AFRICA