Miners’ safety under spotlight
THE DEATHS of six miners at the Palabora Copper Mine in Limpopo have raised great concern for the health and safety of mineworkers, after the incident brought the number of mine fatalities this year to almost 50.
The fatal incident occurred early on Sunday morning when a fire broke out at one of the mine’s underground conveyor belts.
Palabora’s external affairs and communications manager, Lydia Radebe, said the cause of the fire was still unknown and would only be determined once the investigation teams had completed their reports.
“At the time of the incident, 226 employees were on shift. Our rescue team reached 220, and out of those, 84 were seen to by the medical doctor who was on site at the time.
“Three were taken to Phalaborwa Hospital and one was transported to Tzaneen MediClinic,” she said.
Radebe said mining operations had been suspended to enable the investigators to establish the cause of the fire.
“As the company, we reiterate that nothing is more important than the health and safety of our employees and contractors,” she said. “We ceaselessly strive to instil an increased safety commitment in our employees.”
The mine management, officials from the Department of Mineral Resources and organised labour were at the mine yesterday to investigate the cause of the incident.
Sunday’s accident is the second-worst incident this year after seven people died at a Sibanye-Stillwater gold mine when an earth tremor caused a rockfall.
The Minister of Mineral Resources, Gwede Mantashe, released a statement sending condolences to the families of the six dead miners.
“It is unfortunate that yet again, as a country, we have lost so many lives in this disaster,” said Mantashe. “These deaths add to an already high number of lost lives in the industry since the beginning of the year.”
The minister reiterated that mining companies must prioritise the safety of their employees.
The spokesperson in Mantashe’s office, Nathi David Shabangu, said the minister’s next major campaign would be against fatalities in the mining sector.
“We cannot allow any further fatalities,” said Shabangu.
Parliament released a statement on behalf of the chairperson of the portfolio committee on mineral resources, Sahlulele Luzipo, and the chairperson of the select committee on land and mineral resources, Olifile Sefako, yesterday afternoon.
Luzipo and Sefako expressed their shock at the latest incident, and sent condolences to the families of the mineworkers.
“The issue of mine health and safety has long reached crisis proportions, and requires desperate intervention. The Department of Mineral Resources must urgently draft legislation that will hold mine bosses and managers accountable for any life lost on duty,” said Luzipo.
National Union of Mineworkers national spokesperson Livhuwani Mammburu said the union wanted to know what started the fire.
“We want the Mine Health and Safety Act to be amended so that those mine bosses or mining companies that are found to be negligent when it comes to fatalities and injuries should have strong action taken against them. We’ll never see the end of these increasing fatalities in the mining industry until a company or mine boss is held responsible for them,” he said.
Earlier this month, a mineworker from Harmony Gold’s Kusasalethu mine in Carletonville, Gauteng, died in a so-called “fall of ground” accident, which is when ground collapses after a seismic event
Last month, four mineworkers were found dead at Kloof mine's Ikamva shaft after they went missing.
In May, four mineworkers died after being trapped underground after a seismic event at the Masakhane mine owned by Sibanye-Stillwater.