Law enforcement tracking down illegal mining kingpins, says Mpumalanga govt

JOHANNESBURG - The Mpumalanga government says law enforcement is working on tracking down the kingpins of the illegal mining operations.
 
Premier Mandla Ndlovu said that although the trapped miners at an abandoned mine in Sabie were cooperating, the leaders of the operation must be found.
 
He addressed the media at the shaft on Thursday morning where hundreds of miners are understood to be trapped.
 
A retrieval operation, which began this week, has recovered the bodies of three miners, while nine others have emerged from underground.
 
Ndlovu said that some of the miners said they were forced to work there.

"If we deal with the syndicates then these other small fish will follow and we must target this syndicate and pay special attention and break these syndicates that are inviting problems from outside."