Minister shafts the Lily Mine

Zwane’s comments and union demands are threatening the livelihoods of 900 workers

‘Lily Mine remains closed until the container is recovered.” With these words Mi n e r a l R e s o u r c e s Minister Mosebenzi Zwane’s words in effect scuttled a bid to receive R27-million in bridging finance to reopen the Barberton mine hit by an underground collapse.

“The department has not given the mine the right to continue mining,” he told the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) central committee meeting in Centurion earlier this month.

The Vantage Goldfields-owned Lily Mine came under further pressure this week to recover the container in which Pretty Mabuza, Yvonne Mnisi and Solomon Nyerenda died in February. They were trapped 800m underground when thousands of tonnes of rock and debris collapsed on to the container in which they were working.

On Sunday, members of labour federation Cosatu marched to the mine to demand that the container be recovered in three days, failing which the mine should be permanently closed. Their demand was echoed by NUM, ANC and South African Communist Party members, who marched to the mine on Tuesday. They also demanded that workers be paid their outstanding salaries and allowances. Lily Mine was closed after the accident.

It recently secured a R173-million investment from Canadian firm AfroCan to build a decline shaft and expand production at the nearby Barbrook gold mine.

The decline shaft will provide a safe route to where the container is believed to be.

Last month, the Mail & Guardian reported that the mine had to ask the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) for additional funds to build the decline shaft because it would cost R200-million. The committee responsible will make a decision on June 27.

The mine has asked a private investor for bridging finance while its IDC finance application is being considered.

But the private investor retracted the offer after hearing that the mine will not resume production until the container is recovered, Rob Devereaux, the mine’s business rescue practitioner, said this week.

“One of the investors was prepared to put money in for the short term but what scared them off is when he [Zwane] said that the mine would not reopen unless the container was retrieved. That was the main reason for the collapse of that bridging finance,” he said.

A source with intimate knowledge

Photo: Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters Tough times: Employees want their unpaid salaries and allowances, but the mine has been closed since the accident. Managers paid each worker R1 000 from their own pockets.