WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2007-10-04 Time: 00:00:00 Posted By: Jan
CARLETONVILLE, South Africa — Rescue workers Thursday evacuated the first 450 of more than 3,000 miners trapped underground at one of Harmony Gold Mining Co.’s mines, a spokeswoman said.
The miners were trapped about a mile underground Wednesday when a falling pipe damaged the elevator. The company began rescuing workers through a smaller shaft and estimated it would take 10 hours to get them all out.
There were no injuries and workers were in good condition, spokeswoman Amelia Soares said. Paramedics were lowered to about 2,200 meters below the surface where the miners were waiting to be evacuated. “We have been in contact with the people in the mine at all times,” she said.
The workers became trapped Wednesday when a fatigued pipe column in the main shaft of the two-shaft mine fell and damaged the electrical system, effectively blocking the main exit from the mine.
Harmony Chairman Patrice Motsepe was at the mine outside Carletonville, a town near Johannesburg, supervising management, the spokeswoman said. Harmony is Africa’s third-largest gold producer, and the world’s fifth.
Reaction on the spot gold market was largely negligible. Gold traded at $728.50 a troy ounce, down 90 cents from the close in New York. “Gold isn’t supply-driven,” said Darren Heathcote, an analyst with Investec.
Peter Bailey, health and safety chairman for the National Mineworkers Union, said the first 74 men reached the surface shortly after 1 a.m. local time Thursday. “They are all doing well,” he said.
Graham Briggs, Harmony’s acting chief executive, said about 75 miners would be brought to the surface in intervals of 25 to 30 minutes. “It’s going to take some time because we are doing it carefully,” he said. “Nobody is injured, nobody is hurt, nothing like that at all.”
There was ventilation for the miners waiting below ground and officials were in contact with the men by a telephone line in the mine, Deon Boqwana, regional chairman for the union, said. A spokesman for the union, Lesiba Seshoka, said workers had lodged complaints about the maintenance of the mine.
Source: http://www.moneyweb.co.za/mw/view/mw/en/page1329?oid=164068&sn=Detail