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Braving falling rocks and raids for chrome

By Lucas Ledwaba on 10 December 2019
Chrome deposits in the streets of Mogolaneng waiting to be sold. Photo: Lucas Ledwaba/Mukurukuru Media

Last updated on 23 April 2022

See the full story on the Daily Maverick website.

Artisanal miners work in dangerous conditions in Atok, Limpopo. Many are forced by unemployment and lack of economic opportunities to seek work in this trade. Photo: Lucas Ledwaba/Mukurukuru Media
Artisanal miners work in dangerous conditions to extract chrome from tunnels they dig using drills, chisels and hammers in Atok. Photo: Lucas Ledwaba/Mukurukuru Media
Mining has moved dangerously close to homes in the villages around Atok as artisanal miners scramble for chrome. Photo: Lucas Ledwaba/Mukurukuru Media
Artisanal miner Matheba Malapane works in a tunnel on an informal chrome mining site in Atok. He says the lack of jobs and failure by government to empower artisanal miners has left them no choice but to engage in this dangerous work. Photo: Lucas Ledwaba/Mukurukuru Media
An informal artisanal mine in Atok, Sekhukhune in Limpopo. Photo: Lucas Ledwaba/Mukurukuru Media
Artisanal chrome miner Nora Makgolane’s son was murdered allegedly as a result of a turf war among the different groups of miners operating in Atok. Photo: Lucas Ledwaba/Mukurukuru Media
Women engage in back breaking toil carrying ore from the tunnels onto the surface where it sorted and then transported to the village in bakkies. Photo: Lucas Ledwaba/Mukurukuru Media
The ore is carried using buckets which are thrown into trenches to workers in the tunnels who will then fill it up and hand back to women who carry it up to the surface. Photo: Lucas Ledwaba/Mukurukuru Media
Security guards keep an eye on part of the farm Jachtlust in Atok, Limpopo in a bid to keep away artisanal miners who mine for chrome in the hills. The Babina Tlou ba ga Teka community says the land which has been fenced off by Samancor belongs to them. Photo: Lucas Ledwaba Ledwaba/Mukurukuru Media

See the full story on the Daily Maverick website.

Published in Our Stories and Photography

Lucas Ledwaba
Lucas Ledwaba

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