The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources on Thursday embarked on a two-day oversight visit to Gauteng to gain an understanding of the practical measures that are in place to deal with acid mine drainage and illegal mining, and subsequently decide whether the current resources allocated to deal with these issues were sufficient.

The committee said identified illegal mining areas in Gauteng included the mining belt stretching from Germiston, through Boksburg, Benoni, Brakpan, Springs and Nigel, comprising mines such as the Benoni gold mine, the Kleinfontein gold mine and the Grootvlei gold mine.

Currently, none of the old gold mines in this area were operating, with the Pamdozi Grootvlei gold mine, which occupied much of this area, being in liquidation.

Further, illegal mining also took place to the west of Johannesburg in Krugersdorp, at the Mogale gold mine and in Roodepoort at the Durban Roodepoort Deep gold mine.

In addition to visits to these mining areas, the oversight trip would also include meetings at the Department of Mineral Resources, the Council for Geosciences and Mintek.