By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The mining company Sibanye Stillwater has confirmed 300 miners are stuck underground at Shaft 7 of Kloof Gold Mine near Westonaria, West of Johannesburg.
It is understood the door of the conveyance used to haul the ore to the surface opened, resulting in spilled debris damaging the shaft.
“We can confirm that we had an incident at Kloof 7 shaft and are busy with making safe and shaft exam procedures, whereafter we will then hoist the employees out to surface,” Sibanye Stillwater said.
The company says the workers are safe, without providing any detail of the incident which occurred at 9pm. No injuries reported.
Rescuers are currently attempting to provide food to the trapped workers in the three-kilometre-deep Kloof gold mine.
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) confirmed they had heard about the incident on Friday morning. “We are angry that Sibanye has tried to hide the fact that 300 workers are trapped underground without food,” NUM spokesperson Livhuwani Mammburu said.
Shaft 7 of the Kloof mine is a classic ultra-deep Witwatersrand gold operation which is more than 3km deep, increasing the difficulty in extracting the workers.
Mining accidents in South Africa are relatively common. Earlier this year, at least 78 bodies were pulled from an illegal gold mine after police cut off food and water supplies for months in an attempt to crack down on illegal mining activity.
Sibanye Stillwater is among only a few South African miners squeezing profits from the area’s gold deposits. The precious metals producer is mining at depths of about 3,200 meters (2 miles) at the Kloof 7 shaft.