News:300 gold panners trapped in Matebeleland North mine since Monday

<vote /> 300 gold panners have been trapped in a 150 metre deep mine shaft at Durban Gold Mine in Bubi District, Matabeleland North Province, since Monday. Yesterday the makorokoza were involved in a standoff with officials from Duration Gold that owns the mine as they were refusing to come out of the shaft, fearing arrest. The mine owners had brought rescue teams. The illegal panners are said to have invaded the mine last week after allegedly tampering with the local electricity system.

The makorokoza were each paying an unnamed businessman $70 to go down into the shaft using his ladder. Some of the illegal miners said they each paid $500 to security guards to be allowed to extract gold ore for three days. More than 50 armed police officers arrived at the mine at around 1pm to deal with the makorokoza. A group of 13 local makorokoza were engaged to go down into the shaft to convince their counterparts to come out.

Read More: The Herald