Blyvoor Gold tragedy: Miner killed, 20 injured in rockfall at Carletonville mine

Tragedy struck at Aurous Resources’ Blyvooruitzicht (Blyvoor) Gold mine near Carletonville on Thursday morning, when a rockfall claimed the life of a mine worker, injuring several others.

The fall at the restarted underground Witwatersrand gold mine is believed to have been caused by an earthquake which struck mere minutes before the incident.

Blyvoor gold mine rockfall

According to Volcano Discovery, a seismic event with a magnitude of 3.2 was recorded 16km southwest of Carletonville at 9.38am.

Carletonville Herald reported earlier that emergency medical service (EMS) and ER24 crews responded to the incident at the mine at about 9.40am.

One of the miners involved in the incident succumbed to his injuries on the scene, while two others were in serious condition.

Another 12 mineworkers sustained serious injuries but were stable and six were treated for minor injuries at Fountain Private Hospital.

• The Citizen’s efforts to get hold of Aurous Resources and Blyvoor Gold for comment regarding the incident and precautionary measures such as rockfall protection netting, were unsuccessful at the time of publishing. This is a developing story.

Blyvoor mine: Golden times

The Blyvoor Gold mine operation is situated in the Witwatersrand Basin, a geological deposit billions of years old which has produced a third of all the world’s gold.

After production started in 1942, profits from the mine flowed through the mining village and the nearby town of Carletonville. Within a decade, Blyvooruitzicht was said to be the most profitable gold mine at the time. 

Revival of operations at Blyvooruitzicht

Operations were however suspended in August 2013 following its liquidation.

The Blyvooruitzicht mining village was home to about 6 000 people, but after the mine was liquidated, illegal miners (zama zamas) overran the mine; scavengers stripped everything of value and crime soared.

Since the restart of production at the Blyvoor mine in 2022, Aurous has been able to re-employ approximately 1,500 workers, according to Aurous CEO, Richard Floyd.