Johannesburg - Harmony Gold Mining, South Africa’s third-largest producer, will close its biggest mine for two weeks after it was overrun by illegal miners.
The company arrested 105 people for stealing gold at Kusasalethu this month and 25 employees are being disciplined, it said in a statement today.
A third fire this month broke out at the mine yesterday forcing the company to evacuate employees to safety.
“Illegal mining is a threat to employees’ safety and health and to the mine’s continued viability,” chief executive Officer Graham Briggs said in the statement.
Illegal miners, often backed by criminal syndicates, are moving from abandoned mines to legal operations to steal gold in South Africa, often spending months at a time underground.
Five percent to 10 percent of the country’s gold is illegally mined each year, according to the Chamber of Mines, the industry lobby group.
Harmony said it’s taking an “uncompromising stance” toward criminals by increasing security and improving clocking-in systems to control who enters its shafts.
“Some employees have aided illegal miners through access to workings, equipment and food and water,” it said.
The Department of Mineral Resources earlier this year estimated there are 6,000 illegal miners working underground, mostly at abandoned shafts, and a further 8 000 on the surface. - Bloomberg News