Illegal chrome mining and illicit chrome washing plants are rife in the region and hiding in plain sight, though the police have had some recent successes on this front. Fourteen people were killed and 17 injured after an incident involving illegal chrome operations around the Nkaneng informal settlement near Marikana, mining and community sources told Daily Maverick on Tuesday. Sources told Daily Maverick the incident occurred on Monday night. Illegal chrome mining and illicit chrome washing plants are rife in the region and hiding in plain sight, though the police have had some recent successes on this front. Twenty trucks and 15 excavators have been seized in the past two years," Hawks spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Tinyiko Mathebula told Daily Maverick.