South Africa
Infrastructure in South Africa's economic hub Johannesburg is increasingly at risk from illegal mining, residents and officials are warning. They say the illicit trade in gold and other minerals is damaging the city's transport and power networks, as well as its homes and buildings.
Whole chunks of a once-busy road in Johannesburg have collapsed because of damage caused by the illegal mining rampant across South Africa's economic hub.
Elsewhere along Wemmer Pan Road are cracks and sinkholes from underground blasting by irregular miners digging under the city for gold and other minerals.
The round-the-clock operations are undermining Johannesburg's infrastructure -- from transport and power networks to homes and buildings -- and introducing crime linked to competition between gangs, residents and officials say.
