Illegal mining operation bust in the West Rand

A police operation at an abandoned mine in Roodepoort led to the seizure of mining equipment, explosives and suspected drugs.

March 13, 2026
Johan Meyer 1 minute read
Hundreds of bags filled with gold-bearing material stacked and ready to be processed. Photo: Supplied.

Florida police surprised a large group of illegal miners during a routine operation aimed at disrupting illegal mining activity in Roodepoort on Wednesday, reports Roodepoort Record.

“We decided to visit the old Central Rand Gold (CRG) mine, where a huge tunnel, that runs as far as Carletonville, is situated,” says Lieutenant Colonel Ivy Mabuso from the Florida Police Station.

Mabuso states that decisions regarding where the weekly operations will take place are only communicated to police officers and security personnel on the morning of the operation, to ensure information about their activities is not leaked out.

A Gauteng Traffic Warden during the raid. Photo: Supplied

CRG went bankrupt and closed in early 2019, and has been largely abandoned since.

Upon their arrival at the mine, they found hundreds of illegal miners just inside the mouth of the tunnel.

“Police dispersed tear gas into the tunnel in an attempt to get them to come out, but this resulted in them retreating deeper into the tunnel, allowing police to enter safely.”

The growing pile of petrol-powered motors with which illegal miners run their mining equipement. Photo: Supplied

Mabuso adds that conditions inside the tunnel were horrific.

“In addition to a large quantity of machines and mining implements, we found mattresses and other signs that the illegal miners were living in the tunnel. The smell was indescribable.”

Police officers descended into the tunnel en masse and spent the better part of the morning gathering and removing machinery and mining implements.

When the dust settled, police confiscated 18 pendukas, 30 electric motors, three generators, 26 steel crusher balls, two jackhammers, a spade and a pick.

Some found easier ways to carry the heavy implements up the steep slope. Photo: Supplied

They found and removed 11 blasting cartridges, 11 cap fuses and five metres of detonator chord.

“Our search further revealed a large stash of alcohol, including 12 bottles of Chibuku, a traditional Zimbabwean brew, and much more.

The tunnel allegedly extends all the way to Carletonville. Photo: Supplied

“We also recovered a zip-lock bag containing a crystal-like substance suspected to be drugs.”

Mabuso says that Florida police will continue their efforts to disrupt the activities of illegal miners wherever they are active.

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March 13, 2026
Johan Meyer 1 minute read

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Johan Meyer

"Johan is an internationally published journalist and editor with extensive experience in news and industry reporting. His work has featured in numerous publications over the years. He cut his teeth at the Roodepoort Record and Northside Chronicle as proofreader, swiftly progressing to junior journalist. He later joined Randfontein Herald as journalist and eventually worked his way up to becoming editor. During his years away from Caxton, he fulfilled journalist and editor positions for various industry publications at the once mighty Malnor Media House right up to their closure in 2019. This position saw him traveling all over the world on writing assignments. Since 2019, he has worked as a freelancer for various publishing houses, and had a year-long stint as senior editor for a large stable of retail and medical B2B titles, until rapid growth of his own small business required his fulltime attention. At the end of 2023, with his own business now fully staffed, Johan decided to dedicate himself to his first love, working as a local journalist for the good of his community. "
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