Informal gold miners working around old mine dumps between Nyakallong and Allanridge in the Free State say they risk exposure to mine dust, mercury and other chemicals while trying to earn enough money to support their families.

At 48, Thabo* spends most nights digging for gold around old mine rock dumps between Nyakallong and Allanridge in the Free State.

Unemployed, Thabo* says it is one of the few ways he can make money to support his family. 

Sometimes his wife joins him so they can collect and process more material. With no other work, he says the gold they recover helps them put food on the table.

But Thabo* knows the work comes with health risks.

He contracted tuberculosis (TB) in 2025 and says he has since completed his treatment.

“I felt that something was not okay with me. I was cold, when I grabbed a blanket I became too hot,” he tells Health-e News.

One day he woke up struggling to breathe. His wife took him to a local clinic, which referred him to Thusanong District Hospital.

“When a nurse told me I contracted TB, I already knew how I contracted it,” he says.

“The work we do is a health hazard, we work in a place full of dust and sometimes use sewage water to drain and wash our material.”

Thousands turn to informal mining

South Africa has an estimated 6,100 abandoned or closed mines across the country, many of which have not been properly sealed or rehabilitated.

Because informal and illegal mining happens largely outside regulated mining operations, there is no definitive count of the people involved. 

Some mining researchers estimate there are between 34,000 to over 50,000 informal miners – commonly known as zama zamas – working underground in South Africa.

David van Wyk, lead researcher at the Bench Marks Foundation, argues that illegal mining is driven by corporate mine abandonment, poverty and unemployment.

For Thabo*, unemployment is what keeps him returning to the mine dumps despite the health risks.

Mining dust and TB

Exposure to silica-containing dust is a well-established occupational health risk in gold mining and is associated with silicosis and an increased risk of TB.

Research on occupational lung disease among South African miners shows that TB and silicosis remain common among miners and former miners.

In 2021, the National Institute for Occupational Health examined 546 deceased miners and former miners, most of whom had worked in gold mining. Researchers found about one in seven had active TB, while more than one in five had silicosis, a lung disease caused by breathing in silica dust.

Unlike workers in formal mines, Thabo* and the other men Health-e News spoke to are mining illegally around old mine dumps, without the occupational health and safety protections available to formal mineworkers.

The amount they earn when selling on the black market depends on how much gold they recover.

Thabo* says local buyers pay about R150 for what the miners call a “point” of gold, and about R1,500 for a gram.

Mercury used to recover gold

27-year old Katleho* has worked as an informal gold miner since 2017. He says unemployment pushed him into the work.

“I live with both my parents but they are not working and only rely on SASSA,” he says.

Katleho* says informal miners use mercury in their process because it is one of the cheapest and quickest ways available to them to recover gold from the material they collect.

Katleho* says mercury is added during processing to bind with the gold to form an amalgam, which is then heated to recover the gold.

Video and photographs supplied to Health-e News show material being washed and swirled with water in plastic containers as part of the miners’ processing.

The material is mixed with water and mercury, which binds with the gold to form an amalgam. The amalgam is then heated to separate the gold.

The process can expose miners to toxic mercury.

A 2023 South African Medical Journal report documented mercury poisoning in two informal gold miners in Johannesburg. The researchers found that when mercury is used to extract gold, heating the amalgam causes mercury to evaporate. 

Without adequate protection, miners can inhale the mercury vapour. According to the research, mercury toxicity can affect the nervous system, lungs and kidneys.

Two weeks in hospital

Katleho* says he suffered burns and a painful rash last year while working with the chemicals used during processing.

“We are always in a hurry to finish our work so that we don’t get caught but at the same time one cannot be too careful. That is how I burnt my face,” he says.

Last year, he spent two weeks at Thusanong Hospital in Odendaalsrus. He says health workers told him the burns and rash were caused by chemical exposure.

He now uses tissue oil on marks left on his face.

“The soil we work with has mercury. It itches and burns you from your feet to your face,” he says.

Another miner, 29-year old Kamohelo* has burns on his fingers which he says he sustained while working with chemicals and processing material for gold.

He did not seek medical treatment and instead used home remedies, including putting toothpaste on the burns.

“This is the risk we take to bring food on the table,” says Kamohelo.

Masks and gloves

Cedric Mokobori, coordinator of the Allanridge and Nyakallong branch of Mining-Affected Communities United in Action (MACUA), told Health-e News the organisation started holding workshops specifically for informal miners in the area in May this year.

“We had to create workshops for the artisanal miners in Nyakallong and Allanridge so that they know what the amendment Bill of MPRDA says about them,” says Mokobori.

MACUA has held four workshops since May and provided about 50 miners with gloves and masks. Mokobori says the workshops also covered the health risks of mercury and dust.

The organisation plans to continue engaging with the miners and wants to help them become registered as artisanal miners.

Calls for informal miners to be brought into a regulated system have also come from organised labour.

General Industries Workers Union of South Africa (GIWUSA) president Mametlwe Sebei has called for low-grade or limited-reserve mines to be made available to regulated artisanal mining cooperatives. He argues that miners should be provided with equipment, safety training and regulatory support.

Researchers into informal mining in South Africa have similarly argued that licensing some forms of surface mining could bring miners under regulatory oversight and provide greater protection for workers.

Working while avoiding arrest

The miners who spoke to Health-e News acknowledge that the mining they are doing is illegal.

Law enforcement efforts against illegal mining have meanwhile intensified in the area.

In March, the South African National Defence Force in the Free State announced that Operation Prosper had returned to Welkom, with soldiers working alongside police to tackle illegal mining. 

The SANDF says the operation is aimed at stabilising affected areas and preventing illegal mining activities.

For miners like Thabo*, that means trying to earn money while knowing they could be caught and while facing the health risks of the work.

“I know mining itself is destructive and intrusive but what can one do when you are unemployed and hungry?,” he asks.  

“At least when you get sick you can go to the doctor or a clinic, but there is no humiliating thing such as hunger.”

*Health-e News has changed the names of the informal gold miners interviewed for this story to protect their identities because the work they describe is illegal.