CarletonvilleHerald

Gold Fields protection services’ (GFPS) senior manager, Mr Pine Pienaar, says that the mines have not escaped the work of thieves. However, GFPS investigation teams have scored numerous successes against those who steal copper cables on mine property. The long awaited second-hand goods bill, which targets dealers profiting from cable theft and the sale of other second-hand goods such as cell phones, will make it more difficult for thieves to stay in business. Copper cable theft in the mining industry as well as elsewhere is costing the country more than R5 billion annually. The massive increase in cable theft is due to copper’s high price, which has also tripled in recent years. The current price for second-hand copper ranges from R32 000 to R45 000 per tonne. But the damage resulting from theft amounts to more than that, as the total replacement cost is at least three times as high as the cost of the stolen material. The escalation in copper cable loss is due to factors such as unemployment, crime syndicates, and the huge demand for copper and aluminium both locally and internationally. What makes it more difficult for the mining industry is the existence of scrap metal dealers and some 3 000 bucket shops which buy second hand cable. In Carletonville alone there are 64 second-hand dealers and scrap metal yards. Pine hopes that the second-hand goods bill, once it becomes law, will assist in rooting out cable theft because from now on, second-hand dealers will have to register all the goods they both acquire or sell. In addition dealers will have to establish the identity of those they buy from and verify that the goods are the property of the seller. The extent of cable theft in companies such as Telkom is incomprehensible. Telkom apparently spends more than R100 million a year in security measures to combat copper cable theft alone. It is difficult, however, to identify the origin of cable once it is stripped of its plastic casing. In combating theft the co-operation of the community is asked for and relied upon. If anyone is aware of any suspicious dealings, they need to inform the right authorities as soon as possible.