[miningmx.com] – THE human disasters at the closed Grootvlei mine east of Johannesburg could be repeated many times over if the South African government failed to provide the gold mining sector with support, said a prominent mining entrepreneur.
“The gold industry is sitting with a terminal problem, and no one is giving us the right medicine. We need hospice care, but there are no hospices. Nobody wants to talk about death,’ Bernard Swanepoel, chairman of Village Main Reef (VMR) told BDLive.
BDLive said attempts by VMR to keep its Blyvooruitzicht (Blyvoor) mine open nearly sank the company. “As an industry, we cannot afford the type of rehabilitation and closure that is being seen at Grootvlei, Blyvoor and many other gold and coal mines in the country,’ said Ferdi Dippenaar, CEO of VMR.
http://www.bdlive.co.za/businesstimes/2014/09/07/catastrophe-looms-as-mines-are-left-in-the-dumps to read the full article
