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A police task team has seized mining equipment valued at R60 million in the ongoing crackdown on illegal mining.
Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said this followed a raid by the SAPS illicit mining task team on an “illegal coal mine” in Carolina in Mpumalanga this week.
She said coal worth R12 million that was mined illegally was also seized, while a 53-year-old man was arrested after he could not produce a “mining permit”.
Mathe said excavators, bull dozers and dump trucks were seized by police.
She said in the past twelve months, 748 coal yards across the country were visited to ensure compliance.
“A total of 63 unregulated coal yards were shut down because they were not authorised by law to operate by the Department of Minerals Resources and Energy, and the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment.
Mathe said 335 illegal miners were also arrested through high density operations since May.
The Acting National Commissioner, Lieutenant-General Tebello Mosikili says the illicit mining task team continues to register commendable progress.
She said the task team is still trying to find the mine’s owner.
