Illegal mining operation bust in the West Rand

Florida police surprised a large group of illegal miners during a routine operation aimed at disrupting illegal mining activity in Roodepoort on Wednesday,reportsRoodepoort Record. “We decided to visit the old Central Rand Gold (CRG) mine, where a huge tunnel, that runs as far as Carletonville, is situated,” says Lieutenant Colonel Ivy Mabuso from the Florida Police Station. Mabuso states that decisions regarding where the weekly operations will take place are only communicated to police officers and security personnel on the morning of the operation, to ensure information about their activities is not leaked out.

CRG went bankrupt and closed in early 2019, and has been largely abandoned since. Upon their arrival at the mine, they found hundreds of illegal miners just inside the mouth of the tunnel. “Police dispersed tear gas into the tunnel in an attempt to get them to come out, but this resulted in them retreating deeper into the tunnel, allowing police to enter safely.” Mabuso adds that conditions inside the tunnel were horrific.

“In addition to a large quantity of machines and mining implements, we found mattresses and other signs that the illegal miners were living in the tunnel. The smell was indescribable.” Police officers descended into the tunnel en masse and spent the better part of the morning gathering and removing machinery and mining implements. When the dust settled, police confiscated 18 pendukas, 30 electric motors, three generators, 26 steel crusher balls, two jackhammers, a spade and a pick.

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They found and removed 11 blasting cartridges, 11 cap fuses and five metres of detonator chord. “Our search further revealed a large stash of alcohol, including 12 bottles of Chibuku, a traditional Zimbabwean brew, and much more.

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