Pretoria – Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu says the death of two more mineworkers at the Harmony Gold Mining Company is an indication that “something is wrong”.
In a radio interview on Power FM on Friday morning, Shabangu said the confirmation of two more fatalities at Harmony Gold’s Kusasalethu operations in the North West province and another at Joel in the Free State on Thursday could force her hand to institute an inquiry at the mine.
This brings the number of deaths to ten at the mines after eight bodies were recovered at the mine’s Doornkop operations in the West Rand this week.
One more miner is still missing.
“It's a sad day for us. It's a setback as we have been making progress on safety issues in the industry.
“We will be moving towards an inquiry at Harmony. It is an indication that something is wrong,” Shabangu said.
Following the news of more fatalities, Harmony announced on Friday morning that blasting across all its operations has been halted for 24 hours from Thursday night’s shift. The company said the mine would only proceed with safety shifts on Friday.
While the Doornkop fatalities were caused by a fall of ground incident which resulted in a fire that trapped workers underground, the accident at Kusasalethu occurred when a backfill paddock and bag failed, which resulted in an employee being inundated by backfill material. At Joel mine, an employee died in a blasting accident.
Harmony chief executive Graham Briggs said the past two days had been tragic for Harmony, and said all fatalities were “unacceptable”.
“During these safety shifts, general managers will lead their senior teams underground, re-enforcing safety messages and procedures, particularly in respect of critical safety areas. Unions will play an important role throughout this process in facilitating engagement and supporting leadership,” he said. – SAnews.gov.za
