Sibanye workers begin to surface after accident at South African gold mine

Nearly a third of the 260 miners stuck underground following an accident at a Sibanye-Stillwater SSWJ.J gold mine in South Africa were brought to the surface on Friday, the company said, as a senior union official confirmed there had been no injuries.

The miners were stuck underground after the hoist system used to access a shaft at the Kloof gold mine – one of Sibanye’s deepest, situated about 37 miles west of Johannesburg – was damaged in an accident on Thursday.

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Sibanye said 79 of the employees had been brought to the surface by 1:30 p.m. local time in the first phase of an operation to extract the miners.

“The remaining 181 employees … have been provided with food and will be hoisted to surface as soon as safety to hoist is confirmed,” Sibanye said in a statement.

A company spokesperson told Reuters late Friday afternoon that the process was expected to be completed “soon.”

“Fortunately there were no fatalities or injuries,” National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) Health and Safety Chairperson Duncan Luvuno told journalists at the site. “But for … 24 hours people were not eating or drinking anything. This is not adequate. Some have chronic diseases.”

Journalists were barred by security guards from getting near to the mine shaft, but a Reuters reporter saw some of the miners, looking tired but in good health, walk to the perimeter of the company grounds and board buses.

Relatives of those still in the mine, however, expressed shock and worry that their loved ones remained underground.

“I haven’t slept a wink,” said Mamodise Mokone, whose husband was among the miners. “I just want to tell the management or whoever is in charge: I just want my husband out alive.”

Sibanye earlier said all the workers were safe after what it called a “shaft incident” in the Kloof 7 shaft and were gathered at an assembly point as efforts were launched to bring them out of the mine.

Johannesburg-based Sibanye is among only a few South African miners squeezing profits from some of the world’s deepest and costliest gold mines. Sibanye is digging for gold at depths of roughly two miles at the Kloof 7 shaft.

The Kloof mine, which accounts for 14% of Sibanye’s total gold output, also operates two other shafts. The company mines platinum-group metals in South Africa and the United States as well.

Mining accidents are not uncommon in South Africa, where many abandoned mines have been taken over by informal diggers.

Earlier this year, at least 78 bodies were pulled from an illegal gold mine after police cut off food and water supplies for months in an attempt to crack down on illegal mining activity.