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Life on An Abandoned South African Goldmine

15 images Created 27 Dec 2015

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  • Children skip at one of Durban Deep gold mine's old hostels on the outskirts of Johannesburg, South Africa. During the previous few weeks, all the power cables in the area were dug up and stolen, leaving the entire area without any power. Ironically, these children are using the stolen cable casing as skipping ropes.
    Forsaken_Lives-001.jpg
  • Durban Deep gold mine's s now defunct headgear rises up between stalks of pampas grass.  South Africa has more than 6000 gold mines that are no longin operation.
    Forsaken_Lives-004.jpg
  • A woman sits with her granddaughter and dog outside an abandoned gold mining grocery store which they and many other families have made their home on the outskirts of Johannesburg, South Africa. . The grocery store's residents have partitioned off the interior space to create privacy for the many families that live there.
    Forsaken_Lives-013.jpg
  • A group of men play casino at “Skomplaas” hostel, one of Durban Deep Goldmine's old hostels on the outskirts of Johannesburg, South Africa.
    Forsaken_Lives-005.jpg
  • A view of Johannesburg's West Rand flanked by the distinctive glimmering hills of gold dust. These hills are made up of the waste product left over from more than a century of gold mining and are believed to pose a serious health and environmental risk to the communities that live near them.
    Durban_Deep-02.jpg
  • Durban Deep's gutted substation days after its was stripped for its valuable copper and metal. Like many of South Africa’s now defunct gold mines, Durban Deep is a relic from South Africa’s apartheid past.  It sits on Johannesburg’s West Rand flanked by the distinctive glimmering hills of gold dust and its rusting headgear rising up majestically.  While Durban Deep shut down its mining operations almost 15 years ago, the property it sits on has continued as a neighborhood to many low income residents who moved in after miners and management left.
    Forsaken_Lives-002.jpg
  • A security guard wears a bullet proof vest as he stands on duty outside abandoned gold mine, Durban Deep's substation. Days before, the entire substation was ransacked and the cables and transformers were stolen, leaving the neighborhood without power.
    Forsaken_Lives-003.jpg
  • Two little girls and a doll’s head are photographed at Durban Deep’s old “Skomplaas” hostel on the outskirts of Johannesburg, South Africa.<br />
While the gold mine was still operating, the hostel housed hundreds of goldminers. Today a large number of families live in the crumbling buildings. Sanitary facilities are very poor and rats abound.
    Forsaken_Lives-006.jpg
  • Forsaken_Lives-008.jpg
  • A young boy brings a bag of trash to a makeshift dumping site outside Skomplaas hostel on the outskirts of Johannesburg, South Africa.
    Durban_Deep-17.jpg
  • A school girl sits on stones and uses a plastic container as a desk to do her homework on at an old gold mining hostel on the outskirts of Johannesburg, South Africa.
    Forsaken_Lives-009.jpg
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  • A truck belonging to copper cable thieves sits overturned on one of Durban Deep's roads on the outskirts of Johannesburg, South Africa, after local residents, frustrated with the ongoing attacks on their neighborhood and with no response from police despite many calls, formed a vigilante group to tackle the situation themselves. Apparently the thieves had abandoned the truck and run off. This was just the first of many incidents that ultimately led to the murder of six men by the local vigilante group.
    Forsaken_Lives-011.jpg
  • Forsaken_Lives-012.jpg
  • A teenaged boy sits on a tire and bounces a soccer ball on his feet at one of Durban Deep's old hostels on the outskirts of Johannesburg, South Africa. Behind him a poster pro-ANC poster encourages residents to register to vote.
    Forsaken_Lives-017.jpg
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