Miners rescued from South African gold mine

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Miners rescued from South African gold mine

October 04, 2007

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Johannesburg, South Africa—More than 2,000 of the 3,000 gold miners trapped in a mine accident yesterday have been rescued in a dramatic all-night operation with efforts continuing today to bring hundreds more to the surface.

According to the Associated Press, no casualties occurred when a pressurized air pipe snapped at the gold mine and tumbled down a shaft yesterday, causing extensive damage to an elevator and stranding thousands of workers more than a mile underground.

Harmony Gold Mining Co. owns the mine, located near Johannesburg.

Mining company officials reportedly hoped that all the miners would be out by lunchtime, but said it would more likely be early evening.

The time-consuming rescue operation involves bringing workers to the surface in a second, smaller cage in another shaft. Most of the miners have reportedly emerged looking dazed and exhausted, but with no signs of injury, though there was one report of dehydration.

"We nearly died down there," one man reportedly yelled while walking past reporters. "I'd rather leave [the job] than die in a mine."

Deon Boqwana, regional chairman for the National Mineworkers Union, said officials were in contact with the miners belowground by a telephone line. He said the smaller cage used to bring miners to the surface can hold about 75 workers at a time. Normally, he said it takes three minutes to reach the surface, but rescuers were moving more slowly to be careful.

Workers still underground are said to be near a ventilation shaft and have been given water but no food for fear of provoking a scramble among hungry miners, according to Peter Bailey, health and safety chairman for the National Mineworkers Union.

The South African government has accused Harmony Gold Mining of not informing it of the potentially devastating crisis. Government officials—including Minister of Minerals and Energy Buyelwa Sonjica—said they had heard about the accident on the news. Sonjica said President Thabo Mbeki also found out about the accident from a news bulletin.

The accident has already spurred allegations of corners being cut by the industry for profit. Almost 200 mineworkers died in accidents last year, mostly rock falls, the government's Mine Health and Safety Council reported last month. One worker was killed last week in a mine adjacent to the Elandsrand mine.

"We have to recommit ourselves to refocus on safety in this country; our safety record both as a company and an industry leave much to be desired," Harmony Gold Mining Chairman Patrice Motsepe said according to the South African Press Association.

A spokesman for the National Mineworkers Union, Lesiba Seshoka, told the AP that the mine was not properly maintained.

"Our guys there tell us that they have raised concerns about the whole issue of maintenance of shafts with the mine [managers], but they have not been attended to," he said.

Amelia Soares, a spokeswoman for Harmony Gold Mining, reportedly said the mine had won a number of safety awards and had never seen any fatal accidents. She said the company was likely to suffer considerable loss in output during the closure, but was unable to give a precise estimate, saying that attention for now was concentrated on the rescue operation.

Senzeni Zokwana, president of the National Mineworkers Union, said the accident should be a wake-up call for the industry.

"We are very much concerned. We believe that this should be a call to the industry that secondary exits underground be mandated," Zokwana said.

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