THE safety-related problems Sibanye-Stillwater said were a feature of its South African operational performance during the March quarter may be developing into disaster after the firm said on Thursday evening that 10 employees were “unaccounted for” following a seismic event at its Driefontein mine on the West Rand earlier in the day.
A fall of ground occurred at the mine’s Masakhane section which at first left 13 employees accounted for. However, mine rescue teams – which the company said had been immediately mobilised – were in contact with three employees, presumably still trapped. Said Sibanye-Stillwater: “All efforts are being made to locate the 10 employees who remain unaccounted for, and safely recover all the affected employees”.
The National Union of Mineworkers said in an announcement later in the evening that eight miners were still missing. Said Peter Bailey, NUM’s health and safety chairman: “We are [sic] that there was a seismic event around 1pm … 13 workers went missing and five who were working in the same area have been rescued so far”.
“Proto teams have been sent underground to look for the eight missing workers who are still trapped underground,” he said. The union said it was “angry and concerned” at the rate at which health and safety incidents were happening at Sibanye-Stillwater.
The company said earlier today in its March quarter report that its safety record had deteriorated. “After a record period of 155 days fatality-free for the gold operations, there were three separate incidents at our South African gold operations, in which four employees were fatally injured. At our South African PGM operations two employees were fatally injured in two separate incidents,” it said.
