During the second week of May, 2017, a gas explosion occurred at the disused Eland mine shaft at Harmony Gold near Welkom. Police have retrieved the bodies of 25 illegal miners, with the surviving 11 arrested upon surfacing aboveground.
Why is there an increase of this illegal activity? What are the conditions on unused mines that makes it easy for unauthorised people to enter? Have mining companies been derelict in their duties? Let’s take a look.
