BRENDAN BOYLE, Johannesburg | Monday
MINING resumed last night at Gold Fields Beatrix operation in the Free State after a methane gas explosion killed 12 people two weeks ago.
Chief Inspector of Mines Mavis Hermanus said the Beatrix Number One and Two shafts had begun a staged resumption of operations on Friday night after accepting nine safety recommendations.
Willie Jacobsz, Gold Fields representative, said the weekend was spent implementing the recommendations and assessing safety ahead of the first production shift on Sunday night.
“The area where the accident happened will remain closed for some time, but teams assigned to unsafe areas will be reassigned and we expect to be back to full production within days,” he said.
Hermanus closed the two shafts on May 11, three days after a methane explosion killed 12 miners barely a year after seven miners had died in a similar accident in the same mine.
South Africa’s mines are amongst the most dangerous in the world, but standards have improved since the end of white apartheid rule in 1994. Mining deaths dropped to 285 last year from 533 in 1995.
Beatrix, which produces about 500_000 ounces of gold a year, warned earlier this week that a closure of more than seven days could seriously impact profits.
Jacobsz said the 10-day shutdown had prevented the production of around 570 kg of gold and had caused a loss to the company of around R40m ($5.05m).
Hermanus said a preliminary accident report had pointed to failings in engineering provisions, training and information and the application of safety equipment.
The report showed that a critical fan had been reported not working three times before the accident and that the explosion happened while workers were leaving the area after being warned that the methane levels had reached a dangerous high.
“An inappropriate choice might have been made about the choice of the equipment used in the mine…some of it was not flame proof,” Hermanus said in a reference to fans used to blow volatile methane gas out of the mine shaft.
She said the mine’s owners had given staff expensive portable monitoring equipment, but that simple issues such as the absence of a stick to lift the hand-held methane-detectors to roof level had played a role.
Sandile Nogxina, director general in the Department of Minerals and Energy, said the preliminary report had not addressed issues of negligence or criminal or civil culpability, which would be examined in a separate judicial process.
The National Union of Mineworkers welcomed the prompt publication of the report, but urged the government to convene a judicial enquiry as soon as possible.
“The union wishes to call on the Department of Minerals and Energy to ensure that a public inquiry process into this accident begins soon, with the same vigour and swiftness that has thus far been portrayed,” the union said in a statement.
Hermanus said the safety recommendations, including improved ventilation controls, better gas monitoring procedures and installation of better fans, would not be imposed on other mines, but might be accepted by them. – Reuters
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