The following press release has just been issued by Lydia Radeba, External affairs and communication manager of Palabora Copper (PTY) Ltd:
Palabora Copper (PTY) Ltd is saddened to announce that we experienced fire at one of our underground conveyer belt during the early hours of Sunday, 15 July 2018.
The mine management and officials from the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) are currently on the mine investigating the cause of the incident. Preliminary available information reveals that two (2) of our colleagues lost lives during this sad incident and four (4) colleagues are still confined underground.
Read: One dead in Phalaborwa mining incident
The mine management, the rescue teams and officials from DMR are working hard to rescue our colleagues who are still confined underground. Given the sensitivity of the matter, we are unable to provide additional details as we are in contact with the families of our employees who have lost lives and those that are confined underground.
At Palabora Copper, safety and health of our employees form the basis of our values and existence. We have thus suspended our mining operations to enable the investigation to establish the cause of fire as a way of preventing repeats. Essential and support services continue to operate as normal to assist the investigation.
As the company, we reiterate that nothing is more important than health and safety of our employees and contractors. We ceaselessly strive to instil increased safety commitment from our employees. Palabora Copper’s management continuously reviews the situation thus constant update will be provided to the media as the investigation unfolds.
