[miningmx.com] – THE South African Police Service said it would block the entrance to abandoned shafts at the Durban Deep mine, west of Johannesburg, in an effort to halt illegal mining, said Bloomberg News.
“We have arrested more that 100 people who have been caught mining diamonds illegally at the Durban Deep mine in 2013, mostly foreign nationals,’ Paul Ramoloko, a spokesperson for the Hawks, an investigation unit of the police, told Bloomberg News.
“Going to jail has not deterred them, so we are working with key players in the mining industry to shut down the shafts.’
The Durban Deep mine was shut in 2000. The police initiative is in cooperation with the Chamber of Mines of South Africa.
Illegal gold mining is rife among South Africa’s disused mines with ‘gold pirates’ often spending months underground at a time.
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