The illegal miners access underground operations through collusion with employees or mine security, getting access cards and sometimes they can pay around R7500 as bribes to get underground. Alternatively, they dig around concrete slabs of sealed shafts, enter through derelict mine shafts and openings in the ground. This activity is very dangerous, with poor ventilation and the risk of cave-ins. The illegal miners dig for gold bearing material (GBM) on surface at demolished plant locations, rail tracks and slime dumps. They process GBM using mercury in old underground workings, hostels, next to streams and in their backyards.