Artisanal mining in Africa

by Fr Peter Knox SJ

In South Africa, the national police force is besieging illegal miners underground, waiting for them to come to the surface to face arrest. The police are denying the miners access to food, water and electricity in an attempt to “smoke them out.” As the crisis has unfolded, volunteers have been permitted to enter the mine shafts to assist the miners underground, and the police were instructed by an interim court order to end the siege. However, the police remained on site to arrest any miners emerging from underground. As of the 22^nd of November, police had called in mine rescue professionals to help the surviving miners come to the surface. Estimates of the miners’ numbers vary between 1,000 and 1,500.  

What is the reason for the police’s strange and potentially dangerous action? They are enforcing the law regarding mining and mineral rights. The miners underground are operating without licences in mines abandoned by official companies that no longer deem them profitable. The miners underground are breaking the law by trespassing and by not contributing to the national coffers through taxation of any declared income. 

 When a mine is deemed no longer profitable, it is often abandoned by the formal company, with many access points still open or easily breachable. Scant attention is paid to mandatory environmental rehabilitation. South Africa is no exception to the worldwide pattern of mines leaving indescribable environmental destruction in their wake – wastelands totally unsuitable for any economic activity: the soil is frequently destroyed by chemicals; water is polluted; toxins leach into the water table; vegetation cannot grow; animal life cannot survive; agriculture is impossible. The human settlements that developed around the mines depended on a single source of income and, having no economic backbone became ghost towns. The mining companies have packed up and taken their profits offshore, de-registering or leaving empty shell companies to deal with any legal battles that may arise.

In this context, the Stilfontein informal miners are gleaning the remnants in the seams of gold, more than 2,000m underground, often with minimal technical or safety infrastructure. Indeed, as the police allege, a good number of them might be undocumented foreigners, and the government’s knee-jerk response is to deport them. 

However many of the townsfolk of Stilfontein regard the miners as their “brothers” who are risking their lives to provide a trickle of gold into the town. Whether this term indicated a direct family relationship, or a sense of kinship with the miners, is not clear. What is evident is that in the midst of great poverty, with frequent outbursts of violent crime, any income is better than no income at all. Men are prepared to risk their lives to work underground with no amenities or safety regulations to send money home. 

One of the pillars of Catholic Social Teaching is the universal destination of all goods. International trade has flourished over the millennia to bring the gifts of God’s bountiful creation to their ultimate destination. But this trade should not come at an unbearable cost to those whose vocation is to make the riches of the earth available. Communities that have nothing else to offer than the mineral wealth of their land should be the immediate beneficiaries. Miners, particularly artisanal miners, must be acknowledged as contributors to their local and national economies. They need pastoral outreach and support. But how does one ensure dignified and safe working conditions, incomes, housing and nutrition in an industry that is by nature informal and under the radar? Certainly the approach of the South African Police Service is not the way to do it.  

This article has been edited. First published on CTEWC
Forum website https://catholicethics.com/forum/artisanal-mining-in-africa/