Stilfontain Miners

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Illegal mining remains common in South Africa's old gold-mining areas, with miners going into closed shafts to dig for any possible remaining deposits.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/south-africa-s-government-says-it-won-t-help-a-group-of-illegal-miners-inside-a-closed-mine-1.7109781

Will something like this be legal in the brave new unleashed economy Trump and his Republicans are trumpeting?

I get it that South Africa's government's concerned about preventing illegal immigrants and criminal gangs from mining in this fashion but what about legal citizens?

Why would anyone want to prevent hardworking people from trying to feed their families and not be a burden to society? How would this story unfold in an unleashed America? I think preventing this sort of go-getter risk-taking economic activity over safety concerns will seem a little out of fashion if not woke when everyone is responsible for their own welfare.

I think the argument can be made that the criminality surrounding mining is almost entirely due to the effort to stop it. Wouldn't unleashing it and making it legal cure the criminality?

 

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How would artisanal landfill mining to put food on the table go over in an unleashed America?

Sure a big recycling corporation could just buy up all the landfills and get the government to enforce their property rights on active mines.  But like any mine they'd probably leave enough behind to make it lucrative enough for less picky miners to pick through.