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[FILE IMAGE]: Community members watch as Senzo Mchunu, South African police minister, inspects outside the mineshaft where it is estimated that hundreds of illegal miners are believed to be hiding underground, after police cut off food and water as part of police operations against illegal miners, in Stilfontein, South Africa, November 15, 2024.
The Portfolio Committee on Mining and Mineral Resources says there is a need for artisanal mining and small-scale mining to be formalised and integrated into the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Regulations Act.
The committee’s chairperson Mikateko Mahlaule says some abandoned mines have resources that can be formally used by the government to create job opportunities.
He says formalising small-scale mining and training artisanal miners would prevent miners from conducting illegal mining operations at abandoned mines.
“We ought not to focus on closing the mines without training artisanal miners and small scale miners to formalise this sector because it’s a very important sector. If you close a mine which still has resources and there are people who are interested in mining, but you are not enabling them, it’s a problem because that resource can be used by a government to create jobs,” says Mahlaule.
“There must be an integration of this policy on artisanal mining incorporated into MPRD, so that we take zama zamas oust of these abandoned mines and have a formal way of having our people mining legally in those areas,” says Mahlaule.
Stilfontein Mine | Government blamed for slow pace of retrieval:
