Buyelwa Sonjica, the Minister of Minerals and Energy Affairs, has welcomed the findings of an inquest that found the negligence on the part of Northam Platinum could not be ruled out in the deaths of nine workers in an underground fire at the company’s Zondereinde mine near Thabazimbi two years ago.
The minister said the findings re-iterated that a formal risk assessment had not been conducted to determine the consequence of a frictional fire or the effectiveness of the escape strategy. It was stressed that the commissioning, operation, maintenance and decommissioning of belt conveyors should be such that mine employees can perform their work without endangering their health and safety or that of any other persons.
The minister welcomed these findings and said they sent a clear message that unsafe and/or unhealthy mine practices would not be tolerated. She expressed the hope that the mining industry would immediately introduce the necessary pro-active measures in order to prevent a similar accident elsewhere. – I-Net Bridge