Second leader
EDITORIAL: Gold’s tarnished legacy
The government has inherited the complexities involved in the existence of about 6,000 old mine workings in the country
Just like the systematic corruption at Transnet and Eskom, illegal gold mining in South Africa is criminality on an industrial scale. The problem has recently been highlighted in the standoff between police and zama zamas at Stilfontein, but it has been decades in the making.
It’s been estimated that 40% of all the gold ever mined in the world has come from the Witwatersrand. The private sector took the risks and reaped the rewards that came from producing it. Most of the gold mines were worked out and abandoned in an era before boards of directors worried about social and environmental responsibility. Now the government is stuck with more than 6,000 old mine workings...
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