It has been four weeks since the Lily Mine workers Ms Yvonne Mnisi, Ms Pretty Nkambule and Mr Solomon Nyerende were trapped underground. Since Tuesday morning experts have been assessing the situation after the operational depth for the second escape way was reached early on Monday evening.
On Thursday Coetzee Zietsman, media spokesman for the mine, said the rescue operations will not resume without absolute cast-iron certainty of the safety of the rescue workers who will be going underground.
“We are concerned about the safety of the rescue workers because the sinkhole is fairly unstable matrix. The experts which are frequenting the site are the best in the country. They have to first determine if the rescue operation can begin at level 5, before it will even be considered to recommence the process,” he said.
He said that a lot of soil and rock will have to be moved once operations resume and the mine needs to be confident that these actions will not cause any further destabilisation of the sinkhole.
“The risk of further rock falls is a real threat and that is why the process is so lengthy. Our first priority is to ensure the safety of the rescue workers,” he stated.
The mine is also in constant contact with the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR), the relevant unions and the families, to ensure that everyone understands the complexity of the operation.
The DMR is still on site.
“I can confidently say that the rescue operation will not start today (Thursday),” said Zietsman.
In the meantime, many of the mine workers are worried that their jobs might be in jeopardy. Several miners also claimed that they did not receive the overtime due to them and were having a difficult time fulfilling their financial obligations. Zietsman was asked about these allegations but did not comment.
DMR minister, Mr Mosebenzi Zwane, said last week that the company (Lily Mine) promised the DMR that they are committed to ensuring that nobody loses their jobs. “Our stance is simple, as government and the department and this is what we are communicating consistently, we are sensitive to people of South Africa losing their jobs. We are also sensitive about the safety of the very same workers going underground,” said Zwane.
He said that after the container has been brought to the surface, the investigation will continue and the results will be made public. “We will take the necessary steps should we find that a human error was the cause of this incident.”
He said that the mine is closed until such time when the necessary requirements are met to ensure that everybody is safe. “That does not mean we are saying it’s a permanent closure. We are saying to the company, do your work, ensure that there’s safety.”
In a statement issued by the mine it was confirmed that the special relief payment, R50 000 per miner who was underground at the time of the collapse and R200 000 to each of the three families of the trapped employees, will be made as soon as reasonably possible, taking into account administrative and other necessary considerations. The statement read, “In the interim, all employees continue to receive remuneration”.
On hearing of this payment for the miners who were underground, one of the miners said, “They want to give R50 000 to the 70-plus people who were underground on the day of the incident, but the people of whom it will be expected to put their lives at risk searching for the trapped workers must be satisfied without overtime and bonus, yes, it makes sense”.
