Explosion in South African Gold Mine

[HighlandTiger]

Breaking news....

 

http://www.liberation.fr/monde/2015/02/22/afrique-du-sud-pres-de-500-mineurs-d-or-bloques-sous-terre-apres-un-incendie_1207947

 

Eighteen miners were still missing Sunday night carried in a gold mine near Johannesburg, while nearly 500 of their colleagues were trapped underground all day after a fire, the company said Harmony Gold operating the site.

"There is still no news of 18 miners," said AFP spokesman of the company Charmane Russell, noting that 459 of the 486 miners trapped by the fire had been put together safely to the surface.

A handful of other refugees in the areas of survival, were being evacuated.

The accident occurred at the Golden Kusasalethu mine near Carletonville, west of Johannesburg.

The fire was contained, says the mining company. It started during maintenance operations, about 2,300 meters below ground level, around 9:40 Sunday (7:40 GMT).

All mine operations were suspended.

Accidents happen from time to time in the South African mines, which are the deepest in the world. The country excerpt from his basement mainly gold, coal and platinum.

Early 2014, eight miners Harmony Gold had been killed after an earthquake that caused an underground explosion.

In July 2009, nine platinum miners had perished crushed by falling rocks.

Furthermore, the number of illegal miners are regularly victims of accidents. These are minors who creep fraud galleries closed by the companies, hoping to glean a little more precious ore.

 

AFP

[Pipers]

Let's hope they get the rest of the miners out.

[paperponzi]

Yes let's hope so you can well imagine the conditions these poor souls have to endure on a daily basis for us to hold a little bit of gold in our hands they had a strike couple of years back and loads shot dead demanding better pay and conditions

[garthy]

Just sitting on the train going to work, off to do something I'd rather not be doing then I read this...kind of puts things in perspective. I mean 2300 metres down, That's a mile and a half underground! Terrible conditions and no doubt terrible wages, plus there's always a chance something like this will happen, shocking.

[Hookythestacker]

You are right Garthy it does put put our own lives into perspective, silver mining in South America is no picnic either, this probably extends to a lot of industries outside of the west. A friend refers to all of my complaints (and there are many complaints) as "first world gripes" . Good news is according to

 

http://www.russianews.net/index.php/sid/230490275

 

all the miners have been rescued from kusasalethu.