Following his visit to the mine in Virginia on Monday 26 June 2023, the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Gwede Mantashe, said they have a new external intervention team to assist in recovering the bodies which are still underground. The dead miners are believed to be Basotho nationals. 

He further revealed that the intervention team believes there could be more bodies and survivors who are still trapped underneath the surface of the abandoned gold mine. 

ALSO READ: 28 bodies still unrecovered in closed Free State mine

Mantashe raised concerns over issues of closed mines which illegal miners are taking advantage of.

“They die in numbers in accidents. They suspected 31 here, I can tell you if we actually reach that area we will find more than 31. In Krugersdorp we saw the death of 21, those numbers vary from mine to mine. Meaning that illegal mining is actually, I described it last week, as soldiers who attack our economy and die in combat,” said Mantashe.

Meanwhile, authorities said they are not sure when the bodies will be recovered and brought to the surface as methane levels at the mine ventilation shaft where the incident took place, remain high.

OFM News