South Africa’s chrome riches fuel a deadly underground economy

Rustenburg, South Africa – On August 13, a wall of soil collapsed and killed 14 miners, most of whom were believed to be undocumented migrants, at a disused mining site near Nkaneng, an informal settlement outside Rustenburg in South Africa’s mineral-rich North West province.“It happened in a flash, and the earth swallowed a dozen,” Lerothodi Nale*, a migrant from Lesotho who escaped the collapse and ran to alert nearby security guards, told Al Jazeera.Without a passport, Nale left the scene afterwards, fearing arrest. More miners could still be trapped underground, North West police commissioner Lieutenant-General Arthur Adams told journalists, including Al Jazeera.The disaster has exposed a darker side of South Africa’s chrome wealth: an underground economy where vulnerable migrants, unemployed former mineworker and criminal groups converge around a lucrative mineral trade.Deadly richesRustenburg sits above the Bushveld Igneous Complex, one of the world’s richest geological formations, containing vast deposits of platinum-group metals and chrome. The region’s minerals have long powered industries including stainless steel production and advanced industrial applications.South Afri...