A rockfall at an illegal mine northwest of Johannesburg killed 14 miners, most of them from Lesotho, with several hurt and others possibly still stuck underground, police said on Tuesday.

Thousands of unregistered miners known as "zama zamas" operate in South Africa, scavenging abandoned mines for gold and other minerals in arduous and often perilous conditions.

"Fourteen illegal miners, mostly Basothos, died during a rockfall," police spokeswoman Colonel Adele Myburgh said.

"Eight others were hospitalised and an unknown number of illegal miners are currently possibly stuck under the ground. Police are on the scene, and the scene is still active," she said in a statement.

Officials were at the site of the disaster at Nkaneng, near the town of Rustenburg nearly 100 kilometres northwest of Johannesburg, an area of the North West province where there are several established platinum mines.

The incident was reported late on Monday, Myburgh said.

Unregulated miners working in South Africa come from several countries across the region, driven by poverty and unemployment, and the sector has been linked to organised crime, assassinations, extortion and other illegal activities.

"It's not safe where they work in any way. So it's one of those situations where they had a rockfall," Myburgh said.

"They go into discarded mine shafts ... it's so dilapidated, there's no infrastructure, there's no safety measures in place," she said.

President Cyril Ramaphosa in February announced the deployment of the army to help police fight illegal mining, with the activity contributing to major infrastructure damage in some areas. (AFP)



Edited by Cecil Wong