The South African police has extracted a total of 118 illegal miners at Stilfontein mine from Monday to Tuesday,60 were certified dead and those who were alive were arrested.
Police reported that on day one a total of 35 illegal miners were extracted and 9 were certified as deceased.
Police revealed that on day two a total of 157 illegal miners have been extracted,106 alive and 51 have been certified dead.
Police mentioned that on Tuesday extracted 67 Mozambicans,26 Lesotho nationals,11 Zimbabweans and 2 South Africans.
Since August 2024 to 12 January 2025,police revealed that over 1,576 illegal miners have been arrested before the extraction operation commenced.
Police highlighted that nearly a period of six months managed to arrest 997 Mozambicans,427 Zimbabweans,118 Lesotho nationals,21 South Africans,1 Malawian and 1 Congolese.
The police mentioned that 1540 illegal miners are still in police and 121 illegal miners have been deported which include 80 Mozambicans,30 Lesotho nationals,10 Zimbabweans and one Malawian.
The police added that 46 have already been found guilty of illegal mining,trespassing and contravening the immigration act.The court handed down a sentence of R12 000 or six months wholly suspended imprisonment sentence for five years on condition that they are not found guilty of similar crimes.
The police also revealed that confiscated materials since the start of operations in Stilfontein(December 2023) include over 640 kg of gold-bearing material,6.2 kg of refined gold,explosives,firearms,and cash amounting to R52.49 million seized.
Yesterday,the Minister of Police,Senzo Mchunu and Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources,Gwede Mantashe visited Stilfontein mine to check the progress of Operation Vala Umgodi,which is a government initiative to curb illegal mining in the country.