Harmony Gold said on Friday one worker was injured and another was missing after a rockfall at its Elandsrand mine, which re-opened on Monday after it was shut down in early October following an accident.
An official at Harmony said the mine had not been shut again after Friday’s accident, which took place about 3km underground at about 10.30am.
A decision on whether to shut the mine or not would be taken once the rescue operation was completed, but all production activities had ceased to allow the rescue to take place, Alwyn Pretorius, Harmony’s chief operating officer said.
”We’re shocked, it’s a big setback,” Pretorius told Reuters.
”We’re busy with rescue operations — at this time there’s no blasting and production going on at the mine, we cannot blast until the rescue operation is completed. We will take a decision whether to shut the mine once the rescue operation is over.”
He said the mine, near Johannesburg, which had started production in about 60% of its mining area, would have to be checked again for safety before further mining could go on.
Harmony shut the Elandsrand mine on October 3 after a shaft used for transporting workers was damaged in an accident, trapping 3 200 miners 2,2km underground for more than 24 hours.
The mine is one of Harmony’s biggest, producing 51 666 ounces of gold during the quarter to the end of June, nearly a tenth of the firm’s total output during that period.
South Africa’s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has said it plans to ask its members to down tools on December 4 to protest against a spate of deaths in the country’s mines, but is still awaiting a permit to strike..
More than 180 workers have died in mine accidents this year, compared with about 200 last year. — Reuters