Efforts to rescue miner trapped underground after tremors continue

Rescuers at the AngloGold Ashanti Mponeng Mine in Carletonville south-west of Johannesburg are continuing with efforts to rescue a miner who is still trapped underground after two earth tremors at the weekend.

One miner was killed and another is in hospital after being injured in the tremors which happened 3.7km apart at 4.11am and 6.35am on Saturday.

Mine management described the event as unusual.

Francois Naude‚ senior vice president at West Wits AngloGold Ashanti‚ said operations had been halted while the rescue operation continues in the world’s deepest gold mine.

“There is recovery operations currently taking place for the second employee. The employee who passed away was a winch operator. Our employee who is injured is in hospital and is recovering well and there is no threat to his life or anything like that…We know exactly who is where at what point in time during the operations and at what position in the mine.

“We are 100% sure that there is just only one person that we are still searching for. The search is being conducted by mine rescue services. We have our own emergency crew. We have various other rescue teams from neighbouring mines which are assisting with the rescue mission.”

Naude said the mine management has made contact with the family of the deceased.

All the union representatives‚ the Department of Mineral Resources as well as the police have been alerted about the incident. “We have been over a year without losing a person on the mine. We’ve just recorded two million fatality-free shifts‚ which is the first in the history of this mine‚” Naude said.

The Mponeng mine is 3.8km deep.

He added that the first earth tremor was a 1.2 magnitude and the second one was a 2 magnitude event.

“The environment that we are working in after the seismic events are challenging. The event that occurred was a quite a big event. The conditions within which we are doing the rescue are quite challenging‚” Naude said.

The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Unions expressed shock at the incident and sent its condolences to the family of the worker who died.

“Amcu has raised serious concerns about why the mining bosses did not evacuate the teams after the first seismic event‚ as it is well-known that these tremors often come in pairs. Amcu previously criticised mines for their apparent focus on profit over safety.

“The fact of the matter is that mining has become a very perilous working environment in our country…It seems that these mines have quite literally become a death trap for workers‚ who risk their lives on a daily basis for the profits of mining houses‚” the union said in an official statement.

The union called for the Department of Mineral Resources to have a commission of inquiry into the causes of deaths in the mining sector. - TimesLIVE