Mining in focus
Can we afford
zama-zamas?
The South African government has commenced with a process
of handing out mining permits to informal and illegal miners.
Nicolaas Steenkamp asks what the implications are.
I
n June 2018, the Deputy Minister
of Mineral Resources, Godfrey
Oliphant, handed over mining
permits to illegal miners in
Kimberly. A large number of informal
and illegal miners operate in South
Africa and they welcomed the issuing
of permits. However, it has raised some
questions regarding the small-scale
mining sector operating legally in
South Africa.
www.miningmirror.co.za
The government’s diamond mining pilot
project allows the newly licensed informal
miners access to 500 hectares of land
owned by Kimberley Ekapa Mining, a
joint venture between Petra Diamonds
and Ekapa Mining. The pilot project is a
tailings mining resource — a mine dump
that can be reprocessed.
The small-scale miners also pan for
precious minerals around the edge of
established mining operations. Informal
and illegal mining activities have been
going on for the past 16 years and have
resulted in several clashes between the
mine security, police, and illegal miners.
The informal miners can make discoveries
worth as much as R20-million a month,
although weeks go by without major
discoveries. According to the International
Labour Organisation, up to 20% of the
world’s diamonds are dug up by informal
miners.
MARCH 2019 MINING MIRROR [25]