LETTER: Dodgy goings-on at Rappa Resources

Kabelo Khumalo’s article refers (“How Capitec stopped alleged ‘gold mafia’ from moving foreign currency”, June 24).

My company was asked to quote on a project for Rappa Resources about 10 years ago. Two things raised my curiosity during my visit.

First I noticed a mountain of computer tower cases piled up in their scrapyard. We had had several desktop computers stolen over the preceding years, as had many other businesses we knew of. This was likely where they were ending up, and it spiked my interest. I understood some of the components in computer CPUs contain small amounts of precious metals.

Second, I was escorted from my vehicle by security to reception and back again after our meeting. We never experienced this anywhere else in over 40 years of being in business, even when we visited Rand Refinery in Germiston.

The pieces fell into place after the 2020 lockdown and the illegal cigarette business took off. The mountain of cash had to be laundered somehow. Gold was probably the best way to do it, and probably also accounts for the ascendancy of the artisanal mining (zama zamas) over the past 10-15 years.

The plant in the distance, far from prying eyes, was a smelter!

Christopher Lang
Via BusinessLIVE

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