Gold Fields will shut down all operations at its South Deep, Kloof, and Driefontein mines in order to conduct an inspection of the ropes on mine hoists. This follows the deaths of nine workers, who plunged 58m down a shaft when a rope on their conveyance snapped at the Gold Fields South Deep mine near Randfontein on Thursday morning.
Gold Fields said on Tuesday that four miners had been killed in two separate underground accidents at its Driefontein and South Deep gold mines on the West Rand. Vishnu Pillay, head of Gold Fields’s South African operations, said the company deeply regretted the loss of life and said safety was still their number one priority.