60 bodies found in South African gold mine closed after siege

In a statement, police said 51 bodies had been found Tuesday evening, after nine the day before.

The 106 survivors pulled from the mine on Tuesday were arrested for illegal mining, increasing the figure from 26 a day earlier, they added.

For decades, South Africa’s precious metals industry has battled illegal mining, which costs the government and industry hundreds of millions of dollars a year in lost sales, taxes and royalties, estimates a mining industry organization.

Typically, it focuses on mines abandoned by companies because they are no longer commercially viable on a large scale. Unlicensed miners, known locally for taking risks, come to extract what remains.

The South African government said the Stilfontein mine siege was necessary to combat illegal mining, which Mines Minister Gwede Mantashe called a “war on the economy.”

But residents and rights groups have criticized the crackdown, which is part of an operation called “Close the Hole.”