Officials are hoping the strategy will force the workers out of the mineshaft and to the surface, where they will be arrested.

South Africa's rand was stable early on Thursday after trading turbulently in the days after Donald Trump's U.S. election win, ahead of September's mining production data. At 0803 GMT, the rand traded at 18.

An estimated 4,000 illegal gold miners are hiding underground in South Africa after the government cut off food and water in an effort to "smoke them out" and arrest them. The miners have been in a mineshaft in Stilfontein,

South Africa's government says it will let thousands of illegal miners starve until they accept their fate and emerge from an abandoned shaft to face arrest.

South Africa's government says it will not help an estimated 4,000 illegal miners inside a closed mine in the country's North West province who have been denied access to basic supplies as part of an official strategy against illegal mining.

South Africa’s government says it will not help about 4,000 illegal miners inside a closed mine in the country’s North West province as part of an official policy against illegal mining.