More illegal miners resurface from abandoned Stilfontein mine

STILFONTEIN - A total of 17 illegal miners have resurfaced from different shafts in Stilfontein on Thursday, amid an intensified drive to shut down illegal underground networks.

Three resurfaced at shaft 10 at the old Buffelsfontein gold mine in the North West on Thursday afternoon, while the other 14 exited through Harmony Gold's Margaret Shaft earlier.

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Although Harmony Gold doesn’t own the mine occupied by hundreds of zama zamas, the illegal miners have been travelling kilometres underground from the disused shafts to re-emerge at one of the company's shafts as an exit.

Provincial police spokesperson Sabata Mokgwabone said the two groups were arrested.

"The 14 illegal miners who resurfaced at Margaret Shaft, are foreign nationals from Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. They are still being processed and our operation continues."