Johannesburg - A worker was killed in a rockfall and another injured when an illegal mining operation went wrong at Sibanye Gold's Cooke mine, the company said on Wednesday.
The two contractors had been trapped by a fall of ground at Sibanye Gold's Cooke 1 Shaft in Westonaria, west of Johannesburg, since Monday afternoon. Rescue then commenced immediately, the company said .
Senior VP of corporate affairs James Wellsted said one of the trapped workers was declared dead on Wednesday morning at around 7am, while another was airlifted to hospital with severe injuries.
“It is unfortunate that these workers went to a barricaded off area and engaged in illegal mining during or after their shift. Early this morning the rescue teams managed to clear all the rockfalls and found that one of the workers was deceased while another was injured but still alive,” Wellsted said.
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), which is the majority union at Sibanye, on Tuesday condemned the illegal activities of the mine workers and said it was unsure which union the workers belonged to.
Read also: Illegal miners trapped at Sibanye mine
Illegal mining in South Africa has grown to create a complex criminal industry, and according to the Department of Mineral Resources' 2014 estimates, it was thought to be worth about R6 billion a year.
AFRICAN NEWS AGENCY