The Bench-Marks Foundation published a report exposing that abandoned mines in South Africa are not being properly closed, which enables illegal mining operations that harm local communities and fuels criminal networks. The report calls for greater corporate accountability and highlights the ethical lapses in mining practices that jeopardize human rights.

Bench-Marks Foundation released a report uncovering links between legal mining companies and illegal mining syndicates in South Africa, exposing corporate complicity in worker exploitation, corruption, and political financing.

The Bench-Marks Foundation is organizing its annual conference under the theme 'Critical Raw Materials: For Whom? At What Cost?' scheduled for October 10-11, 2023 in Johannesburg. The event seeks to challenge conventional mining practices and the exclusionary 'business as usual' conferences, emphasizing a people-first approach to a just energy transition and advocating for the rights of communities disproportionately affected by extractivism.

The Bench-Marks Foundation highlighted that, nine years after the Marikana massacre, little progress has been made in compensating the families of victims. The foundation welcomed the construction of houses for widows while urging both the state and Sibanye-Stillwater to take concrete steps in ensuring compensation for the deceased miners’ families.