North West police spokesperson Brigadier Sabata Mokgwabone said the extortionists visited the Stilfontein site where mine rescue teams are setting up heavy machinery.

North-West Community Safety MEC Wessels Morweng told Briefly News a rescue operation was underway at Stilfontein in Klerksdorp to bring up the illegal miners.

A few weeks ago, a warning message typed by the authorities and translated into Sesotho, Xhosa and Tsonga circulated among illegal miners in Stilfontein, urging people underground to “exit at the Margaret Shaft as it is the safest existing exit”.

North West police are investigating allegations of extortion after one person attempted to elicit a 30% cut from a team of rescuers deployed by Police Minster Senzo Mchunu at the Stilfontein gold mine.

South African authorities are embroiled in a standoff with an unconfirmed number of illegal miners who remain underground at an abandoned mine, apparently fearing arrest by police officers deployed at the site.

Estimated hundreds of illegal miners are still being trapped underground in South Africa's North West province after a court has ordered police to let them leave. For weeks, authorities had blocked supply lines of food and water to force the miners out.