Four miners have succumbed to injuries and passed away after a seismic event on Thursday afternoon from Sibanye-Stillwater’s Masakhane mine, Driefontein operations on the West Rand.
One mine-worker was rescued early hours of this morning, while two other employees remain unaccounted for.
A seismic event (measuring 2.2 on the Richter scale) caused a fall of ground in an operating stope and trapped 13 employees. Sibanye-Stillwater confirmed that 10 of the 13 employees who were trapped have been rescued. Four of which passed away and six employees are in hospital.
According to Sibanye-Stillwater’s Head of Investor Relations, James Wellsted, the six employees in hospital are stable at this point.
Management of Sibanye-Stillwater send our their condolences to friends and family of the deceased employees through a statement. “We thank everyone involved in the rescue operations since yesterday, especially the proto rescue teams and other stakeholders, who are continuing to make every effort to free and to locate the remaining and unaccounted for employees,” said Wellsted.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said it was alarmed by the rate of tragedies at South African mines and shocked that the government was not taking action.
"Sibanye Stillwater’s deteriorating safety record is alarming considering that this is the company that was one of the safest companies in the Gold Sector in 2015. The Department of Mineral Resources and the Department of Labour needs to take seriously this deteriorating safety record by conducting a thorough investigation.It is scandalous that the mining sector has seen more than 25 deaths already this year but government is still reluctant to implement Section 54 mine stoppages under the Health and Safety Act. Government is sacrificing workers because it is afraid of the mining companies," said the union's national spokesperson Sizwe Pamla.
Wellsted said the details of the incident will be investigated once all of the employees are rescued and operations at the Masakhane shaft have been suspended.
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