{"id":57099,"date":"2026-04-24T07:29:05","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T07:29:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/?p=57099"},"modified":"2026-04-24T07:29:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T07:29:05","slug":"gold-processing-lab-discovered-dismantled-barbeton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/2026\/04\/24\/gold-processing-lab-discovered-dismantled-barbeton\/","title":{"rendered":"Gold processing lab discovered and dismantled in Barbeton"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p><h2>Police found chemicals, gold processing equipment and large quantities of gold bearing material. <\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Police have made a major breakthrough, discovering and dismantling an illegal gold-processing \u2018laboratory\u2019 in Mpumalanga.<\/p>\n<p>An intelligence-driven operation by law enforcement officers led to the discovery of a house in Barberton on Thursday, 23 April 2026, used as an illegal gold-processing laboratory.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-gold-lab\">Gold lab<\/h2>\n<p>At the facility, police found chemicals, gold-processing equipment, and large quantities of gold-bearing material.<\/p>\n<p>Mpumalanga police spokesperson Colonel Mavela Masondo said two unlicensed firearms with ammunition were also recovered at the scene.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was during this time that police arrested two suspects, aged 51 and 52, then charged them with Contravention of Precious Metals Act and possession of unlicensed firearms, amongst other crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-illegal-mining\">Illegal mining <\/h3>\n<p>Masondo said police officers attached to the Crime Intelligence Unit received information about illegal mining activities taking place at one of the houses in Barberton.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe information was operationalised, and the police pounced into the house. It was discovered that the house has been used for the illegal processing, melting and refining of gold.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The arrested suspects are expected to appear at Barberton Magistrate\u2019s Court on Tuesday, 28 April 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Masonso said more arrests are imminent as the investigation continues.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4441160\" style=\"width:533px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Gold-processing-lab-discovered-and-dismantled-in-Barbeton.jpeg 1600w, https:\/\/media.citizen.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Gold-Lab-Barbeton-1200x900.jpeg 1200w, https:\/\/media.citizen.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Gold-Lab-Barbeton-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/media.citizen.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Gold-Lab-Barbeton-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Gold-processing-lab-discovered-and-dismantled-in-Barbeton.jpeg?resize=640%2C480&#038;ssl=1\"\/><noscript><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Gold-processing-lab-discovered-and-dismantled-in-Barbeton.jpeg?resize=640%2C480&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4441160\" style=\"width:533px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Gold-processing-lab-discovered-and-dismantled-in-Barbeton.jpeg 1600w, https:\/\/media.citizen.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Gold-Lab-Barbeton-1200x900.jpeg 1200w, https:\/\/media.citizen.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Gold-Lab-Barbeton-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/media.citizen.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Gold-Lab-Barbeton-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\"\/><\/noscript><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Picture: Saps<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-breakthrough\">Breakthrough<\/h3>\n<p>Meanwhile, the Acting Provincial Police Commissioner of the Saps in Mpumalanga, Major General (Dr) Zeph Mkhwanazi, commended the team for a job well done.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a breakthrough as our operations are targeting the value chain of illegal mining. It is crucial that we dismantle illegal mining infrastructure while we arrest illegal miners.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would like to thank every Police Officer, including the Crime Intelligence Unit, as well as our partners, who were involved in this operation. We believe that the discovery and dismantling of this illegal gold-processing \u2018lab\u2019 is a major blow to organised crime in our province. Your dedication and hard work are noted,\u201d said Mkhwanazi.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<h3>Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p>Add The Citizen as a Preferred Source on Google and follow us on Google News to see more of our trusted reporting in Google News and Top Stories.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n#Gold #processing #lab #discovered #dismantled #Barbeton<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Police found chemicals, gold processing equipment and large quantities of gold bearing material. Police have made a major breakthrough, discovering&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":57100,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mzansi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57099"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57101,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57099\/revisions\/57101"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}