!!! 3,000 Trapped in Mine !!!

**Cliff Huckable** · 10-03-2007, 03:48 PM

Horrible.

3,000 gold miners trapped
Oct 03 2007 10:41 PM

Johannesburg - More than 3 000 mineworkers spent more than 11 hours trapped underground in Carletonville on Wednesday after a falling pipe column cut the power to the lift used to hoist them to the surface.

"Nobody was injured, but there was extensive damage to the steel work and electrical feeder cords," said Harmony Gold spokesperson Amelia Soares.

The National Union of Mineworkers said the miners had been trapped in the Elandsrand mine from 10:00.

It was only after 21:00 that news of the incident surfaced.

There was no emergency exit in the shaft, which had "not been maintained for ages", NUM spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka charged in a statement issued on Wednesday night.

Other outlets

However, Soares said there were other outlets for workers, some of whom were making their way to shafts in an adjacent AngloAshanti mine.

She said 3 200 miners were trapped when a 15m section of a compressed pipe column broke just below the shaft surface bank and fell to the bottom of the shaft used to carry men and materials.

While there was another shaft - used to hoist out waste - it was also not functioning in the absence of electricity.

Explaining why so many people had been trapped underground, Soares said the company had purchased an old mine and extended the shaft downwards.

This meant there were people working on the old mine and workers busy on the new "project" below it, which was scheduled for commissioning within two years.

She said mine management was in constant contact with the trapped mineworkers, adding that they had access to water and adequate ventilation.

Fin24.co.za