October 5, 2007
South African Mine Drama Ends,
All Workers Rescued
Carletonville (South
Africa)
The last of the 3,200 workers who were trapped over the two
kilometres underground in a South African gold mine for more than 35
hours, have been hoisted to safety.
The workers were stranded inside Elandsrand mine, southwest of
Johannesburg, since 10 a.m. Wednesday after the main shaft was
damaged in an accident.
A pipe broke off the top of the shaft, damaging the steel work and
electrical feeder cords and grounding the elevator, mine operator
company Harmony Gold said.
Harmony Gold is the world's fifth largest gold producer.
The rescue operation, the biggest of its kind in the country's
mining history, was underway since Wednesday night. Workers above
ground reconfigured a smaller, secondary shaft normally used for
moving rocks and equipment to enable it to ferry workers to the
surface.
No one was injured in the initial accident. Four workers who
collapsed from exhaustion inside the mine during the long wait to be
rescued were taken for treatment to the mine hospital, a company
doctor told DPA.
Other workers and family members had congregated around the shaft
entrance waiting for the exhausted and dust-covered workers to
emerge in groups. Several onlookers burst through the crowd to grasp
an acquaintance in a hug.
"The environment was okay, it was not too hot, but we had no water.
They just brought some now this morning," Pretty-Girl Cingo, a
25-year-old trainee miner who spent nearly 30 hours underground,
told DPA.
It was dark underground and the workers had mostly slept, Cingo
said, clutching the cling-wrapped ham sandwich and roast chicken leg
given to each of the workers by medics.
The accident has prompted sharp criticism of Harmony's mine safety
policies from the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and Minerals
and Energy Minister Buyelwa Sonjica.
The union has accused Harmony of negligence, claiming a tunnel
through which the workers could have been brought to safety much
quicker via an adjacent mine was flooded.
"When you have people underground working in a shaft there has to be
an emergency exit," NUM representative Peter Bailey said. "What if
there was a fire?"
The company rejected the criticism, saying the secondary shaft,
which can only carry 75 people at a time and which took several
hours to be "reconfigured" for the purpose, was adequate.
The accident comes amid growing complaints by unions over the poor
safety record in the country's mines.
Nearly 200 people die each year working underground, mostly from
rock falls. This year looks set to be even more deadly, with the
toll already at 205, according to Bailey.
Analysts say that falling gold yields have forced mining companies
deeper underground in search of the precious metal, where tremors
and rock falls are more frequent. Most mining deaths in South Africa
are caused by rock fall.
Gold production in South Africa last year fell to 275 tonnes, its
lowest level since 1922.
The Elandsrand mine is 3,566 metres deep. Work is underway at a
nearby Driesfontein mine to make it more than four kilometres deep.
NUM accuses the gold mining companies, who are enjoying record
prices for gold, of cutting corners to maximise their profit and has
threatened strike action if improved safety measures are not
implemented.
Minister Buyelwa Sonjica, who spent most of the day at the mine,
said that the mine was to be shut down for six weeks pending the
repair of the shaft and a safety review.
"This incident has highlighted the problem of infrastructure. No
replacement of facilities has been made (at the Elandsrand mine) for
over 30 years," she said.
"We are going to tighten our regulations on mining," Sonjica vowed.
If Harmony was found to have been negligent with regard to worker
safety, the state would not hesitate to bring prosecutions, she
said.
"We look at this incident as a very serious wake-up call," Patrice
Motsepe, chairman of Harmony Gold, told a news conference.
South Africa is the world's largest producer of gold and platinum.
Mining is one of the country's largest foreign exchange earners,
along with tourism.
The accident has dealt a further setback to Harmony Gold, which last
month cut its third-quarter profit forecasts, citing lower
production and higher overhead costs.
Gold mining accounts for about five percent of South Africa's gross
domestic product and employs more than 100,000 people.
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