By Ben Coetzee and Riana Horn

Due to the importance of the precious metals mining industry and the continuous criminal threat to the industry, the Chamber of Mines of South Africa approached the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) to investigate the occurrence of theft and various related issues. The statistical information this project is based on was provided by the mining sector and is for the period January 2000-December 2004. Some of the mining houses have implemented orientation workshops to explain what type of employee conduct constitutes a crime and the importance of reporting crime. It was therefore important to test the perceptions of employees in the industry to ensure that these workshops are effective. Despite advancements in crime detection and prevention technology, transgressions are nonetheless common at most mines and processing plants. The precious metals mining industry is still not capable of determining exactly how much product is lost during processing phases, leaving a window of opportunity for theft and corruption. Reliable crime reporting is critical to determining the extent of the criminal threat facing the precious metals mining industry. Although most mines have developed processes to record and manage crime-related information, the methods used by the police and the mining industry are not standardised for efficient analysis purposes. It became evident during interviews conducted for the study that there is a general perception in the mining industry that most stolen product sold on the black market ends up in some organised illegal business or syndicate. It is presumed top-level syndicate members, who supply organised criminal dealers, dispose of the largest volume of stolen product. Statistics recorded on identified syndicates may therefore reflect the most reliable magnitude of losses suffered when it comes to approximating the extent of precious metals theft in South Africa.

Pretoria, South Africa: Institute for Security Studies, 2007. 140p.