Neville Nicolau, CEO, Anglo Platinum
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AngloGold sheds 1,300oz/day in mine shutdown
Allan Seccombe
Posted: Fri, 02 Nov 2007

[miningmx.com] -- ANGLOGOLD ASHANTI stands to lose 1,300 oz/day at its Tautona mine, where it suspended operations on Friday after a worker was killed in rock fall just after midnight.

AngloGold had already planned to cut 900 kg (29,000 oz) from 2007’s output to implement plans to make the mine safer after five workers were killed at the seismically active mine in a single incident last October.

“We immediately shut the entire mine down to make sure we can investigate this properly. We had another fatal accident there on Wednesday and this deserves a very serious response,” spokesman Steve Lenahan told Miningmx.
deserves a very serious response
Lost production is the last thing on the company’s mind, he said, echoing the sentiment of new CEO Mark Cutifani, who told Miningmx at the group’s quarterly results presentation on Thursday: “I don’t care about the production issue quite frankly. It’s about safety and that’s where we start.”

It’s likely that AngloGold could make up the production.

The National Union of Mineworkers, the largest union in the sector, said its executive was meeting on Friday morning to discuss the union’s proposal for a one-day industry-wide strike to protest against the number of deaths on South African mines.

Trade union Solidarity said the latest AngloGold death and another at Exxaro’s Grootegeluk coal mine had bought the death toll so far this year on South African mines to 176. Last year 199 workers were killed on the mines.

The government is clamping down on deaths at mines by forcing temporary shutdowns until the incident and the mine’s safety procedures had been investigated.

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The Department of Minerals and Energy is preparing for an audit of the country’s roughly 700 mines to ensure they comply with safety regulations.

Mining companies have committed themselves to reducing fatalities by 20% a year from 2003 to bring themselves in line with international standards by 2013. After a promising start, no improvement was recorded for 2006 and this year would appear to be similar.

The worker in Wednesday’s incident was working at the shaft pillar, the area where there is the most seismic activity. The incident last night was in a different part of the mine.

AngloGold has implemented recommendations made in a study into the mine and working practices it commissioned from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

These new practices include shorter mining panels and volumes mined. The night shift has been scrapped and a single shift will be used at the mine, Neville Nicolau, the chief operating officer for Africa, said in mid-February 2007.