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As gold prices surge, West Africa mine operators launch drones to detect wildcat miners

As gold prices surge, West Africa mine operators launch drones to detect wildcat miners

TimesLIVE23-06-2025
As the afternoon sun beats down on Gold Fields' sprawling Tarkwa gold mine in southwestern Ghana, three men launch a drone into the clear sky, its cameras scanning the lush 210-square-kilometer tract for intruders. The drone spotted something unusual, and within 20 minutes a 15-person team including armed police arrived on the scene. They discovered abandoned clothing, freshly dug trenches, and rudimentary equipment amid pools of mercury and cyanide-contaminated water. The equipment was left behind by so-called wildcat miners, who operate on the outskirts of many of the continent's official mining ventures - putting at risk their own health, the environment and the official mine operator's profits.
The team confiscated seven diesel-powered water pumps and a "chanfan" processing unit used to extract gold from riverbeds. The high-tech cat-and-mouse game is playing out with increasing frequency as record gold prices, now sitting above $3,300 (R59,639,18) per ounce, draw more unofficial activity - intensifying sometimes deadly confrontations between corporate concessions and artisanal miners in West Africa, according to dozens of mining executives and industry experts interviewed by Reuters.
"Because of the vegetation cover, if you don't have eyes in the air, you won't know something destructive is happening," explains Edwin Asare, Gold Fields Tarkwa Mine's head of protection services. "It's like you first get eyes in the sky to help you put boots on the ground.' Almost 20 illicit miners have been killed in confrontations at major mining operations across the region since late 2024, including at Newmont and AngloGold Ashanti's sites in Ghana and Guinea and Nordgold's Bissa Mine in Burkina Faso.
There have been no reports of official mine staff injured. In some cases, clashes at corporate mines caused production halts of up to a month, prompting companies to press governments for more military protection.
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Community leaders call for action against illegal cannabis stores in Chatsworth
Community leaders call for action against illegal cannabis stores in Chatsworth

IOL News

time12 hours ago

  • IOL News

Community leaders call for action against illegal cannabis stores in Chatsworth

Residents said outlets were "freely selling" cannabis products close to schools and religious organisations. Image: Reuters COMMUNITY leaders in Chatsworth are urging authorities to take action against the proliferation of illegal cannabis stores, highlighting concerns about public safety and the impact on local youth. They said outlets were "freely selling" cannabis products close to schools and religious organisations. This comes soon after Mmamoloko Kubayi, the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, confirmed that regulations required for the Cannabis for Private Purposes Act to be implemented would be finalised by March 2026. In a parliamentary response to DA MP Tobias Chance, Kubayi said the Act could only be implemented once her department had received feedback from all concerned departments. Video Player is loading. 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Cyril Pillay, the chairperson of the Chatsworth Spiritual Crime Prevention Forum, said: "The increase in cannabis stores in our community is adding to all the social ills we are facing. It is compounding our problems and leading to the degradation of our society. This is also adding to the social economic challenges that already exist. 'People are complacent and due to poor monitoring, we have more than one cannabis store per area. We need proper monitoring and more police operations to curb this." Denzil Devan, a community leader in Mobeni Heights, said the sharp increase in cannabis stores across communities highlighted a significant gap in legislation. 'While liquor outlets are bound by strict zoning laws, such as maintaining a set distance from schools, cannabis stores are exploiting the absence of similar regulations, allowing them to operate virtually anywhere. This loophole poses serious concerns for public safety and urban planning,' he added. 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Semete-Makokotlela said Sahpra wasin the process of sourcing a system that used barcoding as a means of authenticating these certificates. If you suspect that a provider is using a fraudulent Sahpra licence, you can call the authority on 0800 204 307. THE POST

Cycling's war on hidden motors at Tour de France goes undercover
Cycling's war on hidden motors at Tour de France goes undercover

Daily Maverick

time2 days ago

  • Daily Maverick

Cycling's war on hidden motors at Tour de France goes undercover

Cycling authorities are not only policing against doping in the peloton, but also against 'mechanical doping'. The International Cycling Union (UCI) has intensified its fight against mechanical doping, employing intelligence-driven methods to combat increasingly sophisticated alleged cheating in professional cycling. Once, inspectors relied on random X-rays and magnetic scans to catch offenders. Now, the UCI is borrowing tactics from law enforcement – building confidential sources, mapping risk profiles and monitoring bike changes in real time – to stay ahead in what officials call a technological arms race. Mechanical doping – riders using concealed motors – first gained attention in 2010 and led to the six-year ban of Belgium's Femke Van den Driessche after a Bluetooth-controlled motor was discovered in her seat tube at a cyclo-cross event. Since then, the UCI has expanded its detection arsenal, now employing daily checks of up to 60 bikes during the Tour de France. All bikes have passed the checks since the Tour started in Lille on 5 July. 'We have the ability… to go further with our examinations, whether that's a partial dismantlement of the bike to look into certain components, act upon suspicions, act upon information that we have,' Nick Raudenski, the UCI head of the Fight Against Technological Fraud, told Reuters on Wednesday. Raudenski, a former criminal investigator with the US Department of Homeland Security, took over in May 2024 and immediately pushed for a new approach. 'Bike controls, it's something that I've always equated anytime that I've done speeches or done training. It's like throwing your hook out in the middle of a lake trying to catch fish,' he said. 'If you don't have a strategy, if you're not informed about how to catch fish, what time of day, what kind of fish, where you can catch fish.' Think like a fraudster Part of that strategy is to think like the cheats. 'My idea is to put myself in the shoes of a fraudster. How would I do this and how would I get away with it? And that's part of my background as a criminal investigator – to try to think about not what we know, but what we don't know,' he said. The challenge is relentless innovation. 'It's a bit of a technological arms race. Components are getting lighter, smaller. Easier to conceal, which is harder to detect,' Raudenski said. 'And so, trying to stay ahead of what's potentially possible is always a challenge.' For Raudenski, the mission is clear: keep fans believing in the sport. 'People still need to believe, at least from the technological fraud side, that they're not climbing a stage like yesterday, and people just immediately think, 'oh, well, they must be on a motor',' he said. 'Knowing that our processes are in place, that we're conducting the controls that we're doing, that there is that insurance that the enforcement controls that we have in place, that doesn't happen at this level.' Reuters/DM

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