Atok residents to close trenches left by illegal chrome miners

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Residents of Atok, outside Burgersfort in Limpopo, have hired a private company to fill up trenches and holes dug by illegal chrome miners. The illegal miners extracted minerals and left gapping holes and trenches.

Residents say the trenches pose a danger to them and their livestock.

Some community members believe miners don’t want to incur costs of rehabilitating the mines after extracting chrome deposits. Community leader, Mogale Makgolane, says the community saw it fit to raise funds and hire a private rehabilitation company.

Atok residents close trenches and holes left by illegal chrome miners:

Members of the South African National Defense Force (SANDF) have been deployed in the area to fight illegal mining.

The company rehabilitating the trenches says it saw it fit to help the community. Company employee, Jonas Seloane, explains….

The Atok community says it took the decision to rehabilitate illegal mines after the Department of Mineral Resources mentioned that their mine closure and rehabilitation program only targets those — which operated before 1994 and whose owners cannot be traced.