[miningmx.com] — SOUTH African police said they arrested 358 illegal miners Tuesday after a shootout at an abandoned mine shaft.
Capt. Johannes Ramphora said illegal miners shot at security guards who confronted them at a mine east of Johannesburg. Security guards shot back, wounding one miner.
Police started arresting hundreds of miners Monday evening in the shaft, where authorities said explosives also were found.
“We arrest these illegal miners, but you find after a week there are other new people there,” Ramphora said. “It’s a very difficult situation for police, but we are trying.”
Ramphora said it was the third major illegal mining bust in the last two years. In August, South African newspapers reported that security guards shot and killed four illegal miners at the same shaft.
Aurora Empowerment Systems, which owns the mine, is in a pay dispute with the mineworkers they inherited when they bought several mines from a bankrupt company.
Illegal miners often stay in shafts for months at a time. The dangers of illegal mining can include cave-ins as well as noxious fumes or explosions from the chemicals used in extracting gold ore.
South Africa is one of the world’s coal, platinum and gold-producing giants. Mineral sales account for a third of the country’s export earnings.
