Gold mine safety questioned after South African rescue

Last Updated: Friday, October 5, 2007 | 10:24 PM ET

CBC News

Rising gold prices have pushed companies in South Africa to dig deeper mines, but this past week's close call is raising questions about whether safety regulations are being ignored.

Some 3,200 workers were painstakingly rescued by Thursday morning from the depths of a mine shaft near Johannesburg after a pressurized air pipe snapped, damaging the elevator used to bring miners to the surface.

Despite being stuck in the shaft for more than 24 hours with no food or water, no one was harmed.

The mine's owners, Harmony Gold Mining Co., though, have come under criticism from the government for the accident at the Elandsrand mine.

At a mine and safety council meeting in downtown Johannesburg on Friday, Minerals and Energy Minister Buyelwa Sonjica said the accident was preventable.

"If maintenance of that shaft was done properly, I think this could have been prevented," said Sonjica. "Something went wrong with the maintenance of that shaft."

Deepest mines in the world

He warned mining industry leaders that safety regulations will be tightened to ensure protection of workers comes before interests in profits.

"We're trying to inculcate a new culture … a culture that will be guided by our need to pursue mining safely … rather than a culture that says we mine for profits," said the minister.

Two years ago, the viability of the gold mining sector in South Africa was in question, but when gold prices began to climb, activity soared.

"There are new mines and old mines are being reopened," said Thabo Gazi, chairman of the Mine Health and Safety Council, a group of government, labour and employer representatives that advises the government.

South Africa is the world's largest producer of gold and other minerals, and has some of the deepest mines in the world.

The Elandsrand mine is the third-largest producing gold mine in the country, producing an average of more than 1,360 kilograms of gold every month, the company says.

Rescue a 'wake-up call'

The union representing workers at the mine say the incident is a sign of larger safety problems, and are threatening unspecified "industrial action" to draw attention to their concerns.

"The 3,000 mineworkers who were caught underground … is more than a wake-up call for the industry and a reflection of the broader problems facing mine workers in South Africa," the National Union of Mine Workers said in a statement.

The chairman for Harmony Gold, one of the fifth-largest producers of gold in the world, has agreed to improve safety.

"What is required for all of us is we have to learn from what has happened over the last 24 hours. There has to be a continuous commitment to improve on safety and health, at Harmony, but also in the whole of the industry," said Harmony Gold spokeswoman Patrice Motsepe.