Along with about 600 other men, Ndumiso lives and works in a small gang-controlled "town" - complete with markets and a red light district - that has grown up deep underground at a disused gold mine ...

Five of the unlicensed miners were pulled out alive Wednesday, all of them appearing frail and weak after apparently being underground for several months. Illegal miners — known locally as Zama Zama — ...

Police arrest 21 in a crackdown on illegal chrome mining in Bapong, North West. Authorities target rampant 'zama zama' operations draining the economy.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Sleeping next to decomposing corpses and surviving on a foul mixture of toothpaste mixed with toilet paper. That's how an unknown number of unauthorized miners — believed ...

Kgothaso Nhlengethwa, a specialist on Artisanal Mining, said "The problem with illegal mining is that it's a very complex ...

Police arrested 21 suspects in a targeted crackdown on zama zama operations in Bapong, North West. The police have arrested 21 suspects in the Bapong area, North West, for illegal mining. The newly ...

In South Africa, police have spent weeks besieging an abandoned gold mine west of Johannesburg, waiting to arrest hundreds of illegal miners known locally as zama zamas. The miners are notorious in ...

Tensions rose in Bapong after police arrested at least three suspected illegal miners with large quantities of chrome in a community burdened by illicit mining.

BAPONG - Socioeconomic conditions appear to be forcing some residents in the town of Bapong to accept illegal mining. Some of them stand to benefit financially from allowing digging on their property.

That’s how an unknown number of unauthorized miners — believed to be in the hundreds — have been surviving for weeks, possibly months, over a mile deep underground in a disused mine shaft in the South ...

Surviving on a diet of toothpaste and toilet paper, South Africa's notorious "zama-zama" illegal miners continue a weeks-long standoff with police... JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Sleeping next to ...