JOHANNESBURG – The Council for Geoscience said that the recent tremors in Johannesburg were a cause for concern.

The council said that they were closely monitoring areas south of Johannesburg following two tremors within the space of two days.

On Saturday, a 2.3 magnitude tremor was recorded just south of Johannesburg, with another, coming in at 2.5 magnitude, rocking parts of the region again on Monday morning.

Chief scientist at the Council for Geoscience, Eldridge Kgaswane, said that Monday morning’s tremor was recorded near the Mooifontein tailings dam, west of the FNB Stadium in Nasrec, at a depth of 4.7km.

He said this may be too deep for any illegal mining activity.

“I wouldn’t at the moment rule out activities related to illegal mining, however, the preliminary investigations indicate this to be implausible.”

He said that aftershocks could still occur in the area.

“If that tailings stockpile at the moment, if it is unstable, then there is a possibility that we will see aftershocks.”

The area is prone to illegal mining activities.

Council for Geoscience