Fingers crossed for trapped miners
Frantic bid to rescue more than 900 after freak storm hits Free State town Union frets about ventilation and food supplies for those underground
Families of the more than 900 Beatrix mineworkers trapped underground prayed for their safe return yesterday after the mine was hit by power failure.
The mineworkers, who were working night shift, were trapped at one of the country’s largest gold mines following a freak storm that hit the Free State town of Virginia.
The town where the mine is located was severely hit by the storm that knocked down trees, buildings and electricity pylons, resulting in power supply interruption. At least 272 mineworkers had been rescued from the mine by late yesterday.
A mineworker at the mine said after the power failure, a back-up generator at the shaft had overheated due to poor maintenance, forcing the mine to ship in another generator from Kloof mine in Carltonville, Gauteng.
According to the worker, a truck transporting the generator also had the misfortune of a tyre puncture on the way.
The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) yesterday said that workers were rescued at Sibanye Gold’s Shaft 2, while 955 workers were still trapped underground.
Sibanye, in a correspondence to workers, said its ability to rescue more workers was impacted by the power failure.
“We are continuing with rescue efforts to bring those who are trapped to the surface. We will keep you updated as soon as we have more information.”
Sibanye spokesman James Wellsted said that all the miners have been accounted for and were safe.
Wellsted however, said 955 workers were still trapped at Number 3 Shaft late yesterday. Power had been restored at Number 2 Shaft and all the 272 people who were trapped there have been rescued.
He denied Amcu’s claims that Sibanye had not been conducting maintenance on the back-up generator. “We have done some maintenance but there were issues with the generator and the capacity of the generator wasn’t enough to fulfil our needs and that is why we’ve gone across and borrowed one from Harmony [Gold], to give us additional back-up power. Operators are currently trying to restore power to the shaft so that the miners can [rescued],” he said.
Amcu accused Sibanye of failing to do maintenance work on its generators.
“It is quite clear that there is no investment in [power failure] prevention by this [company]. It also raises serious concerns on contingency plans by the mines … which shows that the life of mineworkers is worth less than a generator because there are no generators there. If there are, they’re not working,” said Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa.
“The mining regulation is quite clear that there must be emergency power supply for ventilation purposes,” said Mathunjwa, who also questioned when last did the Department of Mineral Resources’ inspectors pay the mine a visit. He said if the underground temperature was high, this would put the lives of the workers at risk.
“And, furthermore, the workers haven’t taken any food and water since Wednesday evening, while others are on medication, but they don’t have medication supply.”
The department said their inspectors are on site providing support and advise on the rescue operation.
The National Union of Mineworkers said yesterday it was worried about workers who were suffering from chronic illnesses. “We have heard that Sibanye is using a generator to rescue the mineworkers, however, the challenge is that only one mineworker can be rescued at a time,” said spokesman Livhuwani Mammburu.