8 more illegal miners retrieved from Stilfontein abandoned shaft

STILFONTEIN - Eight more illegal miners have been retrieved from an abandoned gold mine in Stilfontein on Tuesday.

Phase 3 of an operation to bring hundreds of illegal miners back up to the surface kicked off on Monday.

It's the final part of a plan to shut down the illegal mining network operating at various shafts at the Buffelsfontein mine in the North West.  

More than two dozen illegal miners were rescued on Monday while nine dead bodies were recovered.

READ: Mining expert warns of high risk of Stilfontein rescue mission

A cage has been sent down the shaft this morning.  

South African National Civics Organisation's spokesperson in the North West, Mzukisi Jam, weighed in on the operation.

"But we had requested that we must start with the dead bodies so that we prevent a situation where they end up decomposing and so that their families can still identify them. But the police have decided that we must start with the live ones for reasons only known to them, but when I confronted them yesterday they said the forensic did not have enough space to accommodate them."