Senior Vice President of Investor Relations at the group, James Wellsted, says time will be spent today to ensure the mine is safe. According to him, employees will also be debriefed after 955 mineworkers were trapped for more than 24 hours below ground last week when a storm with strong winds caused an electric cable outage on Wednesday night.
The aim of the debriefing is to give those involved a full understanding of what happened while they were underground and explain the whole process that management went through last week.
Inspections by the mine and the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) will continue. Workers are expected to report for duty but they will not work because they will be engaged in the feedback sessions.
Wellsted said all involved mineworkers were examined by medical staff as they were brought to the surface on Friday. There were no major issues. Some of the employees were dehydrated, while others suffered from high blood pressure. There are a few individuals who had sprains which they sustained while jostling to get into the lifts to be brought to the surface. They were attended to swiftly.
Meanwhile, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) says none of its members will perform any duties underground until a full safety audit and thorough safety drill procedures are conducted. The audit is done by the Department of Mineral Resources, Health and Safety stakeholders and all trade unions. AMCU president, Joseph Mathunjwa, says the majority of the 955 mineworkers who were trapped underground at the Sibanye Gold’s Beatrix Mine last week are AMCU members who will report at the mine today.
CHRISTAL-LIZE MULLER / OFM News
