Boom

The government rescue operation of illegal miners at the old Buffesfontein gold mine in Stilfontein, North West, that started on Monday has already resulted in the rescue of …

Adding to the despair, the search and rescue operation for two zama zamas (illegal miners) trapped in a Roodepoort mine has been suspended due to hazardous conditions. The …

Fugitive zama zama boss James Neo Tshoaeli, commonly known as 'Tiger', may have bribed cops with gold and cash to escape.

Illegal miners live dangerously, but make roaring profits selling gold on the black-market.

The significance of zama zama has increased, and most of the illegal mineworkers are unemployed South Africans, and those from the neighbouring countries such as Lesotho, …

South Africa has built a burgeoning national economy on its gold mining trade over the past few decades, but for the "Zama Zamas", hunting for the precious mineral is a process just as synonymous with peril as profit. Named …

Zama zamas search for gold in a vast and unmapped underground network of tunnels.

Picture it: a disused gold mine in South Africa, more packed than a crowded tube train during rush hour, with Ndumiso and about 600 other chaps spending their days digging …

Of the 1,826 "zama zamas" or illegal miners arrested in the Vala Umgodi operation at the Buffelsfontein gold mine in Stilfontein, only 26 were South African.

A mine security expert from the neighbouring town of Orkney, another zama zama hotspot, told GroundUp that a single shaft could have 500 men working inside, each mining 30 grams of gold per week.