Illegal miners are called "zama zama" ("take a chance" in Zulu) and operate in abandoned mines in the mineral-rich country. Illegal mining costs the South African government hundreds of millions of dollars in lost sales each year. Many South African mines have closed down in recent years and workers have been sacked.

The government is trying to starve more than 1,000 informal prospectors out of a shaft of the Buffelsfontein mine, which police say extends some 8,000 feet below ground.