At one time South Africa was known for being the largest producer of diamonds and gold. Today, because of past controversial practices, diamond and gold mining has greatly decreased in South Africa. But mining is still one of the driving forces behind South Africa’s economic stability, specifically through coal. South Africa has some of the most abundant coal mines in the world.

South Africa is the third largest coal exporter in the world. In 2019, the South African coal mining industry provided more than 92,200 jobs. In the same year, 258.9 million tonnes of coal was mined bringing in R139.3 billion. And while coal is helping to keep South Africa’s economy afloat, corruption has yet again become a major industry hindrance. This time the corruption is in the form of organized crime theft. Coal theft has become one of the largest areas of crime in South Africa and is costing companies billions each year.

Those stealing coal are very organized in their methods and are supported by crime lords with large bank accounts. These crime lords can resell the stolen coal for far more than it cost them to steal it. A truck is loaded with coal at a mine. Next, it is supposed to go to a weigh station to have its precise contents and identification logged. Instead, with the help of insiders, the truck bypasses the weigh station, is brought to an illegal storage area, and then sold off. Often the stolen coal is sold back to South African energy businesses like Eskom. The money goes to the crime lord rather than the mine, without Eskom being aware that they are purchasing stolen coal.

Other times there are fleets of trucks that look exactly like the authorized ones, however, they are owned by the thieves. These clone trucks enter the mine, follow all protocols and then bring the coal back to the thieves. These shipments are often swapped with lower quality coal from other robberies and sold to Eskom at full cost. “Eskom is buying what they think is the right quality coal, and the seller is selling what they think is the right quality, but the coal thieves have switched the coal,” said Mike Elliott, business rescue practitioner for the Gloria Coal Mine. “This theft is done on the books, with the coal trucks passing the weigh bridges, with the help of insiders in the coal mine.”

With such organized theft, mine operators like Seriti, a major supplier for Eskom, have to use smarter security measures. Seriti Resources Holdings Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Mike Teke announced earlier this summer that they had begun using drones to monitor mine operations and control theft. These drones will serve several purposes for Seriti. The first is that the presence of drones alone will be a deterrent against thieves. The second, and primary goal of the drones, is that they will give Seriti security a way of actually intercepting and stopping thefts. And finally, the drones will allow Seriti to have a greater understanding of the mine operations.

Coal theft has become so rampant in South Africa that Eskom has had to issue rolling power outages to protect their grids. For too long, South Africa has relied on apartheid era security means that cannot keep up with the growing crime rate of the country. As companies like Seriti adopt advanced technology like drones for security measures, commercial theft should hopefully decrease. Though Seriti has yet to release the findings on how successful the drones are, Mike Teke said “We’re flying the drones almost every night at every operation.” Vigilance is key in stopping corruption. Drones are providing Seriti with the vigilance they need to combat coal theft.