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5 May, 2008
Last week proved to be a deadly for South African mining company Gold Fields Ltd. Fourteen miners were killed, including nine on 1 May at the firm’s South Deep Mine near Randfontein, in the northeast province of Gauteng.
Those nine were killed in an inexcusable safety breach that saw a chain attached to an elevator cage snap, causing death when the cage plummeted 60 metres inside a mine shaft. Eight of the nine were contract workers, including one woman. Those eight were employed by the subcontracting firm, Murray and Roberts.
Two days earlier, on 29 April, three miners were killed and one seriously injured, this time inside another shaft of the South Deep complex. They were killed and injured by a rock fall caused by a seismic event. Also on a same day, a driller’s assistant employed by Gold Fields was killed at the Twin Shafts mine from a rock slide.
The week’s spate of accidents caused South Africa’s second largest gold producer to suspend mining operations in the country, a move mandated by the Department of Energy and Minerals in order to secure a full review of safety procedures.
National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) General Secretary Frans Baleni said branch unions at Gold Fields will observe a full day of mourning over the tragedies. NUM Regional Chairperson Thamsanqa Joko said the company is not doing enough to protect workers. “We feel that more should have been done to improve safety conditions,” he said in a South African newspaper.
NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni
And the country’s Minister of Minerals and Energy, Buyelwa Sonjica, who met with NUM leaders and management at South Deep following the elevator collapse, was sharp with her criticism of the company. “I see it as gross negligence, which can only be due to lack of maintenance.” She called it “inexcusable” and promised those responsible will be held accountable, even if it means prosecution.
Following the near tragedy of 3,200 miners who were trapped at Harmony Gold’s Elandsrand Mine last October, the South Africa government ordered a full safety audit of all the country’s mines. That audit is expected to be complete by the end of May 2008.