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Mine dump collapse in South Africa kills at least 14 suspected illegal miners

Police said rescue teams are searching near Rustenburg for an unknown number of people who may still be trapped.

Reported · Written up by our desk · Emerging Markets

At least 14 suspected illegal miners were killed and eight were injured after a mine dump collapsed in South Africa’s North West province late Monday night, police said, with search and rescue underway near Rustenburg.

The collapse occurred while miners were digging for platinum group metals at a disused dump on a private company’s site, according to provincial police commissioner Arthur Peter Adams.

Reuters reported that the injured miners are from Lesotho, while the nationality of those killed has not yet been confirmed.

The incident highlights the long-running scale of illegal mining in South Africa, which Reuters said has ranged from small-scale theft to operations run by organized criminal networks, and costs the government and the mining industry hundreds of millions of dollars each year in lost sales, taxes, and royalties.

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