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Illegal miners appear in the Barberton Magistrate’s Court in Mpumalanga on August 4, 2025.
The 24 illegal miners who resurfaced at the Sheba Gold Mine in Barberton, Mpumalanga, on Monday are expected to appear in the local Magistrate’s court today.
Twenty-eight others resurfaced yesterday and will appear in court tomorrow.
Those arrested are facing charges including contravening the Immigration Act and illegal mining.
The operation to remove illegal miners from gold mines in Barberton is continuing.
Sheba Gold Mine and Pan African Resources say most illegal miners’ camps have been cleared.
More than 550 illegal miners have been arrested since Friday last week.
Police say more arrests are expected.
Food supply to the illegal miners has been cut to force them to the surface.
Pan African Resources Spokesperson Hethen Hira says they are working to remove the illegal miners.
Hira says, “Our security has confirmed that a majority of the camps have been cleared and there are no large groups remaining underground. The original thousand number was an estimate and the 500 were processed approximately, but as far as we know, there are no large groups underground at the moment.”
He says, “We’ve cleared the areas that we know, but there are access points. As you can see, this area is huge and it’s vast. There could be people going back to areas where they have left equipment or to get what remains there of whatever there was left.”-Additional reporting by Mthobisi Mkhaliphi.
VIDEO | More arrests expected at Sheba Mine:
