More bodies were expected to be retrieved after four were pulled out of Aurora's Grootvlei mine in Ekurhuleni yesterday following a shooting three days ago, Gauteng police said.

"We can confirm that four bodies were recovered from underground and we are still trying to retrieve more, but we cannot say how many are still there," Colonel Noxolo Kweza said.

Kweza said she could not say if there was a shootout between miners and security guards. That would only be determined after autopsies had been conducted.

The Aurora mine is co-owned by President Jacob Zuma's nephew Khulubuse and Nelson Mandela's grandson Zondwa.

According to a Sowetan report published yesterday, security guards allegedly shot at least 20 people at the mine and left the bodies underground for days.

It was still not clear if those killed were illegal miners or unpaid Aurora employees.

The NUM said it was shocked by the reports, and linked the shooting to the mine's failure to pay workers, leaving them "to fend for themselves".

"NUM calls for an investigation into these allegations and whether or not these were indeed illegal miners," spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka said.

Mine officials were not immediately available to comment.

However, website miningmx.com reported that Aurora Empowerment Systems confirmed that illegal miners were killed at Grootvlei.

Thulani Ngubane, commercial director at Grootvlei, was quoted denying that 20 people were killed.

"Last week one of our guards was shot dead and another kidnapped by these illegal miners," he said.

Ngubane said management had been alerted to "a situation" after a kidnapped guard escaped. The company had reported over 35 cases of illegal mining to the police.

He said reports of a rampage by workers could not be true as Grootvlei had been shut since April, following a strike.