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A judge of the Labour Court has ruled that the errant Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) should desist from using sledgehammers to crack nuts. In decrying the irrational manner in which the DMR inspectorate has been closing entire mines without valid reason, judge André van Niekerk also noted that the same regional office had been involved in the Bert’s Bricks case, but had seemingly not heeded the High Court’s caution handed down in that case. In the latest case, the instructions of the inspectorate applied to level 44 of section 12 of AngloGold Ashanti’s Kopanang mine, which employs 2% of the 4 000-plus employees at the mine. On the particular level inspected, no circumstances existed to conclude that the entire mine was unsafe and the judge ruled that Section 54 instructions needed to be proportional to the potential harm they prevent.