The South African government is seeking the help of experts to bring illegal miners to the surface

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s government said on Friday it had assembled a team, including mine rescue experts, to develop a plan to bring it to the surface illegal miners which remain under an untapped gold mine.

The move shows the government is taking a more conciliatory approach compared to earlier this week when it said it would not send aid to miners at the abandoned Stilfontein gold mine in North West Province. Officials closed the entrance to the mine, which was used to deliver them food, water and other essentials, as part of a government strategy to force them back to the surface and face arrest.

Authorities said the operation, dubbed “Closing the Hole,” aims to “smoke” the miners out of the mine shaft. There are no official estimates of the number of miners remaining in the mine, but police cited local information and said there could be up to 4,000 people underground.

But a police spokesman said on Thursday that they believe the number is exaggerated and may be much lower than that, putting the figure at between 350 and 400 miners.

A government delegation led by Police Minister Senzo Mchunu visited the site of the disused mine on Friday to speak with the community and relatives of the miners trapped underground.

While Mchunu insisted that illegal miners were committing a crime, he said the government also wanted to save their lives.

“We need a much faster process because it’s risky and dangerous for them to stay where they are any longer,” Mchunu said.

Mchunu said they were told the mine was 2,500 meters (over 8,000 feet) deep and that the process of pulling people out was very dangerous. He added that his team also fears that the miners may be well-armed.

A group of mine safety experts, police, army and various government departments were scheduled to meet on Friday to come up with a plan, and mine safety experts were to immediately assess the situation.

According to police, 369 firearms, 10,000 rounds of ammunition, 5 million rand ($275,000) in cash and 32 million rand ($1.75 million) worth of rough diamonds have been seized from illegal miners since the government operation began.

More than 1,000 miners have flooded into various mines in the North West Province, with many reportedly weak, hungry and sick after weeks without basic necessities.

Some family members of the illegal miners appealed to the government for resources and expertise to get them out, and this week community members got some of the miners out on their own.

A decomposed body, believed to be one of the miners, was brought to the surface on Thursday, and police said they were still trying to determine the man’s identity and cause of death.