Our Planet Climate and Geopolitics
South African police are hunting for a man known as Tiger, who allegedly ran an illegal goldmine in a town south of Johannesburg.
According to a statement released yesterday, the suspected gang leader surfaced from the Stilfontein mine and escaped with the help of officials.
Last week 78 bodies were recovered from the site and more than 240 people were rescued, after being trapped two kilometres underground since November.
The police had cut off food and water supplies in an attempt to force the miners out – many undocumented migrants from neighbouring Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Mozambique.
South Africa used to be the world’s largest producer of gold, but the decline of the mining industry allowed criminal gangs to seize control of abandoned tunnels and exploit foreign workers to dig for metal.
Illegal mining costs the economy nearly $1 billion every year, with an estimated 6,000 abandoned mines in the country.
