JOHANNESBURG- Two men were killed overnight in a fight involving suspected illegal miners at Harmony Gold’s Tshepong mine in South Africa’s Free State province, a police spokesman said on Saturday.
Harmony spokeswoman Marian can der Walt said the incident had not halted operations at the mine, the biggest earner of the company that is the country’s third largest gold producer.
Company data showed Tshepong produced 207,950 ounces of gold in the 2011 financial year.
“We discovered two male bodies with stab wounds this morning at Tshepong mine in Welkom,” police spokesman Stephen Thakeng said. “It seems they were killed last night in a fight among suspected illegal miners.”
The incident was likely to add to growing concern about the presence of unlicensed miners in the mines of South Africa, the continent’s biggest gold and platinum producer.
Up to 20 illegal miners were killed last month by a rock fall at an abandoned mine elsewhere in South Africa.
