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Hundreds of gold miners were stuck underground in South Africa on Thursday after a power cut, the mine’s owner said, though the workers were not reported to be in immediate danger.
The Sibanye-Stillwater mining company said a massive power outage caused by a storm had prevented lifts from bringing the night shift to the surface at the Beatrix gold mine, near the city of Welkom. South Africa mining massacre victims offered £75m in damages Read more “We have got 955 employees still underground, they are in a confined and safe area, it’s the shaft waiting area (and) there is ventilation, we are supplying them with water and food,” James Wellsted, spokesman for Sibanye-Stillwater, told AFP. “So everybody is fine at the moment. We are trying to restore power so we can start hoisting them to the surface,” he said, speaking on the phone from the mine. He said the depth where the miners were trapped was uncertain, but the mine has 23 levels, going down to about 1,000m (3,280ft) below ground. One cable was restored during the day and 272 workers were rescued, but 955 remained trapped by early evening, the company said. They have been underground for 24 hours. Advertisement Wellsted said that engineers were struggling to get emergency generators to operate and re-start the lifts following the storm. “We are having some issues – probably related to the power surge linked to the storm – in getting the winders working, so we are busy working on that issue at the moment,” he added. “Last night there was a severe storm in the Free State (province) that affected two different power cables... and cut off all electricity supply to the mine, so we were unable to bring the night shift up.” Back-up power generators failed to kick in due to a software issue “and we are trying to solve that problem,” said Wellsted. The Beatrix mine is in Free State province, 290kms (180 miles) southwest of Johannesburg. AMCU, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, said that the workers stuck underground were facing major health and safety risks. “AMCU views this incident as extreme due to the sheer number of workers involved,” it said in a statement. “The incident raises serious concern regarding the lacking emergency contingency plans at the mine for alternative and back-up power generation.” It said workers’ lives could be in danger, especially if they were on medication. Another mining union the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) complained about mine safety and called on mineworkers to refuse to work in “dangerous conditions”. “Major multinational corporations like Sibanye-Stillwater which should be industry leaders in creating a safety culture are doing far too little to prevent accidents,” the union said in a statement. Last August five mineworkers died after sections of a gold mine collapsed outside Johannesburg. The country possesses rich mineral reserves and has some of the world’s deepest gold mines. Gold was for many decades the backbone of South Africa’s economy, but production has declined sharply due to depletion of reserves. 矿井的主人说道，周四数百名采集黄金的矿工在一场停电后被困于南非的地底下，不过据说称工人们暂时还没有危险。 Sibanye-Stillwater矿业公司表示，在韦尔科姆市附近的比阿特丽克斯矿山金矿，由于风暴造成的大规模停电使得升降机无法将夜班工人带回地面。 Sibanye-Stillwater发言人詹姆斯·韦尔斯德斯（James Wellsted）对法新社记者表示：“我们有955名员工还在地下，不过他们正处于一个狭窄的安全地带，那个地方通风良好（我们正在为他们提供水和食物）。” “所以现在大家都很好。我们正在试图恢复电力供应，这样我们就可以开始把他们通过电梯送回地表。”他通过矿下的电话如是说道。 他还说，矿工被困的深度还不确定，但矿井有23层，距地表约有1000米深度。（3,280英尺）。 该公司表示，当天已经有一条电缆恢复工作，272名工人获救，但直到傍晚时分还有955名工作人员仍然被困地下。 他们已经在地下被困长达24小时。 他补充道，工程师们正努力让应急发电机运行，并于风暴结束后重新启动升降机。 他补充说：“我们遇到了一些麻烦 - 可能与风暴引起的络筒机电力高峰有关 - 所以我们现在正忙于这个问题。” “昨天晚上，自由州（省）遭遇了一场严重的风暴，分别影响到两条不同的电缆，切断了矿山的所有电力供应，所以我们无法把正在上夜班的矿工送回地表。 由于软件问题，备用发电机未能投入使用，我们正试图解决这个问题。”韦尔斯德斯说。 比阿特丽克斯矿山位于约翰内斯堡西南290公里（180英里）的自由州省。 矿工和建筑工人联盟AMCU表示，被困地下的工人面临着巨大的健康和安全隐患。 他们在一份声明中表示：“AMCU高度重视这一事件，因为涉及到的工人人数众多。 “这起事件引起了人们的严重关切，因为矿场缺乏应急备案和备用电力来源。” 联盟说工人的生命可能处于危险之中，尤其是如果他们当中有人正在服药的话。 全国矿工联合会（NUM）的另一个采矿工会抱怨矿场的安全很成问题，并呼吁矿工拒绝在“危险的条件下”工作。 工会在一份声明中表示：“像Sibanye-Stillwater这样的大型跨国公司，应该成为创造安全环境的行业领导者，但他们做的远远不够，还做不到预防事故的发生。 去年8月，五名矿工在约翰内斯堡外的一座金矿坍塌之后死亡。 南非拥有丰富的矿产储量，拥有众多世界上最深的金矿。 黄金过去许多年来一直都是南非经济的支柱，但由于储量的枯竭，黄金产量已经急剧下降。 |
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