Sibanye brings miners stuck below ground since 1pm to the surface

Barely two weeks after a near five-month strike ended at Sibanye-Stillwater’s South African gold operations, the company saw as many as 1,800 workers stuck underground in one of its shafts in an incident that took place at around 1pm at one of the company’s platinum mines near Rustenburg.

By about 9pm, most of them had safely been hoisted to the surface, with the rest expected to follow in short order. They were keen to get home to their families after the hoisting only began at about 7.30pm.

The employees were stuck underground for hours in Sibanye-Stillwater’s Thembelani Shaft near Rustenburg.

The company said in a statement: “The shaft inspection confirmed that it was safe to hoist employees from the 14th level of the Thembelani shaft. More than 1,500 employees have been safely brought to surface, with the remaining employees being gradually hoisted to surface.”

No injuries were reported.

Company spokesman James Wellsted said earlier in the day they would try to get the workers to the surface through another shaft nearby, though this turned out not to be necessary.

Thembelani was safe and waiting to be brought above ground, said the company on Tuesday evening, despite earlier reports that the employees were stuck underground.

“[At about] 13:00 today, some rails which were being transported underground at the Thembelani shaft, Rustenburg, whilst being slung under the conveyance, came loose and fell down the shaft.

“Shaft personnel are removing the rails from the shaft and conducting an inspection to determine if there has been any structural damage to the shaft, following which a decision will be made to either use the Thembelani shaft should it be safe to do so to remove employees from underground, or the second outlet at the adjacent Khuseleka shaft,” said the company via an emailed statement.

The day shift employees were waiting at the shaft stations at the Thembelani shaft and there had been no serious injuries reported.

Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) health and safety chairperson Molete Thoane had earlier described the incident as “avoidable” and told eNCA that the way he understood it the mine workers now needed to be moved from a lower to a higher level to enable them to be extracted.

Thoane alleged there was a lack of supervision and criticised the company for not taking the necessary precautions. He expressed concerns for his members.

Amcu signed a new wage agreement with the company this month after a protracted strike that started last year.

Last year in February, about 1,000 workers were also trapped underground for more than a day at one of its gold mines after a power failure.

Trade union Solidarity last year also expressed grave concern about safety in mines in the wake of seismic event at Sibanye-Stillwater’s Masakhane shaft at Driefontein, near Carletonville in Gauteng, which claimed seven lives and injured another six miners.

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