{"id":95598,"date":"2026-02-10T16:11:57","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T16:11:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mantashe-intensifies-crackdown-on-illegal-mining"},"modified":"2026-02-10T16:31:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T16:31:11","slug":"mantashe-intensifies-crackdown-on-illegal-mining","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mantashe-intensifies-crackdown-on-illegal-mining","title":{"rendered":"Mantashe Intensifies Crackdown on Illegal Mining"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>The sale of mineral resources mined illegally from South Africa\u2019s pits is estimated to cost the economy around R70 billion a year.<\/p>\n<p>Mineral and Petroleum Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe said government will continue to intensify its war against illicit mining.<\/p>\n<p>The sale of mineral resources mined illegally from South Africa\u2019s pits is estimated to cost the economy around R70 billion a year.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the electricity and logistics challenges faced by the mining industry \u2013 crime has also stifled the industry\u2019s contribution to the formal economy.<\/p>\n<p>Despite efforts by law enforcement to clamp down on the black-market trade, there are still concerns about criminality.<\/p>\n<p>Illegal mining is again among key concerns addressed at the annual Mining Indaba, which kicked off in Cape Town on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAre we winning the war against zama zamas [illegal miners]? I don\u2019t know. And can I tell you why I don\u2019t know? Because it\u2019s a criminal activity. You don\u2019t regulate criminal activity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mantashe said government will continue to do what is in its domain.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat is on the role of the State is on derelict and ownerless mines. Concurrent rehabilitation is the responsibility of operational mines, so that work is being done parallel to each other.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">South-Africa<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; South-Africa. The sale of mineral resources mined illegally from South Africa\u2019s pits is estimated to cost the economy around R70 billion a year. Mineral and Petroleum Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe said government will continue to intensify its war against illicit mining. The sale of mineral resources mined illegally from South Africa\u2019s pits is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":95597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[275],"class_list":["post-95598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Mantashe Intensifies Crackdown on Illegal Mining - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The sale of mineral resources mined illegally from South Africa\u2019s pits is estimated to cost the economy around R70 billi ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mantashe-intensifies-crackdown-on-illegal-mining\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mantashe Intensifies Crackdown on Illegal Mining\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The sale of mineral resources mined illegally from South Africa\u2019s pits is estimated to cost the economy around R70 billi ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mantashe-intensifies-crackdown-on-illegal-mining\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-10T16:11:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-10T16:31:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2026\/02\/sm_1770728431.620754.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1152\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"648\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mantashe-intensifies-crackdown-on-illegal-mining#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mantashe-intensifies-crackdown-on-illegal-mining\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Mantashe Intensifies Crackdown on Illegal Mining\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-10T16:11:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-10T16:31:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mantashe-intensifies-crackdown-on-illegal-mining\"},\"wordCount\":226,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mantashe-intensifies-crackdown-on-illegal-mining#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2026\/02\/sm_1770728431.620754.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mantashe-intensifies-crackdown-on-illegal-mining#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mantashe-intensifies-crackdown-on-illegal-mining\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mantashe-intensifies-crackdown-on-illegal-mining\",\"name\":\"Mantashe Intensifies Crackdown on Illegal Mining - 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