zama-zamas
Illicit mining fight flounders in Kimberley, the world’s diamond capital
The project has been hit by violence, with the excluded informal miners attacking infrastructure and members of the newly licensed co-operative
11 November 2019 - 18:55
The first South African project to bring illegal miners into the formal fold has been plagued by violence in diamond capital Kimberley, dealing a major blow to national efforts to stem a booming illicit trade.
The project was launched 18 months ago in Kimberley, the site of a 19th-century diamond rush that lured fortune-seekers from about the world. Mine owners granted more than 800 unlicensed, or informal, small-scale miners the right to legally mine about 600ha of diamond-rich waste fields...
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