JOHANNESBURG, March 8 (Reuters) – Up to twenty illegal
miners were suspected killed after a rock fall at an abandoned
mine in South Africa, a union said on Thursday.
There have been growing fears for the safety of unlicensed
miners still working in abandoned shafts in Africa’s biggest
economy.
“One illegal miner was seriously injured and, according to
him, 20 killed in a rock fall as a result of illegal mining
activities in a mine located between the Grootvlei and the
Gravelotte mines on the East Rand,” the Solidarity union said in
a statement.
The Grootvlei site is currently looked after by liquidators.
The site had been temporarily managed by a firm run by relatives
of President Jacob Zuma and former president Nelson Mandela.
South Africa, which has the world’s deepest gold mines, has
a dire safety record compared with its peers in the
industrialised world.
In 2010, four suspected illegal miners were shot dead
underground at Grootvlei.
“These mines are turning into ‘shafts of death’,” said
Solidarity deputy general secretary Gideon du Plessis.
“Until the assets are finally sold off, no one is going to
take full responsibility to stop illegal mining activities at
the mines, to secure the mine shafts adequately and to get them
into operation again.”
A spokeswoman for the department of mineral resources
confirmed that an incident at Grootvlei had taken place, but
declined to confirm the number of fatalities. A government mines
inspector said that at least two people had been found dead.
Police said it was too early to confirm the number of dead.
(Reporting by Agnieszka Flak; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
© Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved
