[miningmx.com] – SOUTH African mines minister, Ngoako Ramatlhodi, is to visit Kusasalethu, the Harmony Gold west Rand mine where a fire yesterday threatened the safety of some 486 miners who were underground at the time.
Harmony delivered all miners to surface without incident, but the fire was the latest of several at Kusasalethu which has been the subject of illegal mining activities. The company last year shut the mine for two weeks in order to clear out 1,500 illegal miners.
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) ordered Harmony to “pull it socks up” in respect of its safety record noting that a fire at Harmony’s Doornkop just over a year ago resulted in the death of eight workers.
We call upon this mining house to pull up its socks and improve its health and safety system to prevent re-occurrence of these fires or these operations are heading to a disaster,’ says NUM National Health and safety secretary Erick Gcilitshana.
