A SECURITY official has been killed in an unsuccessful armed attack on the gold plant at Harmony’s Kalgold mining operation in North West Province in the early hours of Friday morning.
This is the second such fatal attack in less than two months following the attack on DRDGold’s Ergo operation near Springs east of Johannesburg on October 22 when a gang killed the firm’s chief security officer and stole some 17kg of gold in calcine concentrate.
According to a statement from Harmony no gold was stolen from the Kalgold plant “due to additional security measures” and the company added no further information would be disclosed at this time because the incident is being investigated by the South African Police Service.
Harmony said the security official killed was a reaction unit supervisor employed by a contracted security company.
A release from the Minerals Council South Africa said this was the ninth such “significant” attack on gold plants during 2019 which had resulted in two people being murdered and mine employees and security personnel being held hostage and assaulted.
The Minerals Council called for “urgent intervention” by the ministers of Police and Mineral Resources and Energy to prevent and investigate these violent assaults.
