An estimated 4,000 illegal gold miners are hiding underground in South Africa after the government cut off food and water in an effort to "smoke them out" and arrest them. The miners have been in a mineshaft in Stilfontein, in the North West province, for about a month.

South Africa’s government says it will not help a group of illegal miners inside a closed mine in the country’s North West province as part of an official policy against illegal mining

Harmony Gold, South Africa's biggest gold producer by volume, said on Thursday it had appointed Beyers Nel as chief executive officer to take over from Peter Steenkamp, who is retiring. Nel, a mining engineer who has been with the Johannesburg-based gold producer since 2003,