Residents, businesses and tourists in Pilgrim’s Rest in Mpumalanga are facing a barrage of illegal miners operating in the well-known Pilgrim's Creek and very little intervention from authorities. It is believed that organised syndicates are behind the mining activities that see cyanide and mercury dumped straight into the stream.
“These processing plants are fitted with fairly advanced equipment such as ‘phendukas’, generators, oxygen bottles and large quantities of highly poisonous cyanide and mercury.” He says his chamber, as well as Graskop’s and Pilgrim’s Rest’s, are working very hard to protect tourism in the area. According to him, the 20-plus tourism monitors who were appointed to patrol the town, should report crime to the police but are not.
TGME has received all the required environmental approvals for the underground project estimated to be worth R85m. However, an appeal has been lodged to the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment against the approval of the integrated environmental authorisation that was issued by the Department of Mineral Resources on July 25, 2023.