Mining Decline
Makhotla Sefuli
Makhotla Sefuli
Matjhabeng Local Municipality
Free State Province
28th July 2022
#miningdecline
The mining industry, the heart and soul of the Free State Goldfields and it’s economic backbone for more than seventy years.
This month we witnessed yet another blow suffered by the mining sector with the closure of Bambanani mine that was previously known as President Steyn No 4 shaft. This is the only shaft that was left operational after the en masse exodus of the late nineties and early two thousands. This came as a devastating blow to the mining community and the residents of Welkom at large.
The process of selling some of the assets of this shaft to others in the North West and Gauteng is already underway. The workers have already been transferred to other shafts in other provinces while those of advanced ages are forced into retirement.
This comes amid the efforts by the provincial and central governments to revitalise the ailing economy of Matjhabeng and the rapidly declining mining industry. What boggles the mind is to what extent will the efforts of government go in order to curb the ever rising unemployment in this community that has historically depended on mining.
Another major concern with the closure of this shaft is the rise in illegal mining activity that has besieged Matjhabeng in the recent years. In the past three financial years it was discovered that Welkom forfeited close thirty two billion through illicit financial flows illegal mining was the main culprit in the whole saga
