[miningmx.com] – DE BEERS and Namaqualand Mines, the operation the
diamond producer is hoping to sell to Trans Hex, another listed diamond miner, said it
was seeking six illegal miners trapped on May 22 following the collapse of a tunnel at
the Namaqualand property. One illegal miner had been rescued.
“The rescue team is still carefully excavating the collapsed tunnels to investigate
whether more people are trapped,” De Beers said in a statement. Anglo American is
agreed to take full control of De Beers after last year proposing to buy the 45%
shares owned by the Oppenheimer family.
“The illegal diggers were working in the Bontekoe area on the northern boundary of
Namaqualand Mines and state-owned land. The mine management responded as soon
as they were alerted and have been at the site since early this morning,” De Beers
said.
De Beers said the Namaqualand mine management were dealing with a situation in
which people were “… entering the mine property, destroying fences, ignoring
signage, evading arrest, transporting mining equipment and undertaking the
dangerous excavation of tunnels which have proven to be unsafe and have in fact cost
the lives of illegal diggers in the past.
“The mine has requested trespassers and illegal diggers to leave the Mine and the
authorities have apprehended trespassers and illegal diggers,” it said.
A further statement will be issued if new developments occur, it added.
