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This is the first report from the JAGUARS (JApanese-German Underground Acoustic Emission Research in South Africa) project, the overall aim of which is to observe ultra-small fracturing in a more or less natural environment. We installed a local (~40-m span) network of eight acoustic emission (AE) sensors, which have the capability to observe up to 200 kHz at a depth of 3.3 km in a South African gold mine. Our specific objective was to monitor a 30-m thick dyke that remains as a dip pillar against active mining ~90 m above our network. An Mw1.9 earthquake whose hypocenter was ~30 m above the network occurred in the dyke. Although the mineowned geophone (4.5 Hz) network detected only five earthquakes in the surrounding 200×200×150-m3volume within the first 150 h following the main shock, our AE network detected more than 20,000 earthquakes in the same period. More than 13,000 of these formed a distinct planar cluster (~100×80 m2) on which the main shock hypocenter lay, suggesting that this cluster delineates the main shock rupture plane. Most of the aftershocks were presumably very small, probably as low as M~ -4. The aftershock cluster dipped ~60°. This is consistent with normal faulting under a nearly vertical compression field, as indicated by nearly horizontal breakouts found in a borehole crossing the rupture plane.