Buyelwa Sonjica, Minerals and Energy Minister, South Africa
Send this article to a friend
Print this page

» Tough talk at safety summit
» Unsafe behaviour is normal behaviour
» Harmony's turnaround marred by safety, power

» JSE:GOLD FIELDS LIMITED:
10043c 1%

Nine killed in cage plunge at Gold Fields
Allan Seccombe
Posted: Thu, 01 May 2008

[miningmx.com] -- NINE workers were killed at Gold Fields’ South Deep mine in South Africa on Thursday when a cage fell down the shaft, bringing the death toll at the company's operations to 14 in just three days.

It is the second time in two years there has been a cable failure at the twin-shaft complex.

“A conveyance fell 58 metres to the shaft bottom and all nine people in the conveyance were fatally injured,” said Gold Fields spokesman Andrew Davidson.
a harrowing week for us
The conveyance, or cage, in the service shaft had collected the development workers, eight of whom worked for Murray & Roberts Cementation and the other for Gold Fields, at 105 level, which is 2,804 metres below surface. It was transporting them to 110 level 2,882 metres below surface.

“There was an apparent failure in the rope,” Davidson said.

“It’s been a harrowing week for us,” he said. Another five workers have been killed at Gold Fields’ mines since Tuesday. Four were killed in a seismic event at the Driefontein mine and another worker was killed in fall of ground at South Deep.

The spate of incidents at Gold Fields, which has left 14 people dead in less than a week, comes hard on the heels of a meeting on mine safety in Johannesburg on Tuesday, where companies were lambasted by the country’s largest mining union, the National Union of Mineworkers, and the government.

Click Here to subscribe to our daily newsletter
Buyelwa Sonjica, the South African mines minister, said the safety record of the industry, which saw a 10% increase in fatalities in 2007, was “totally unacceptable.”

It has been under her watch that the Department of Minerals and Energy has taken a more vigorous approach to mine safety, temporarily shutting down shafts or working sections where fatal accidents have happened.

This has been one of the factors driving the platinum price, market watchers have said.

Gold Fields has suspended all work below 95 level at South Deep as well as suspend operations at 10 shaft at Driefontein. South Deep, while producing gold, is seen by the company as a development project rather than a fully producing mine.

There was no indication of how long the South Deep suspension would last. The mines safety inspectorate will investigate the incident and make recommendations.

Gold Fields has also undertaken to analyse all pillar mining at its four South African operations.

“The union implores Gold Fields to take all necessary steps to put the current cycle of accidents to an immediate end,” said Jaco Kleynhans, spokesperson of trade union Solidarity.

Before Gold Fields bought South Deep from Barrick Gold and Western Areas, the mine’s production was severely curtailed for six months after a cable snapped in May 2006 and fell down the shaft, damaging infrastructure on the way down. Nobody was killed in the incident.