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: 2007-10-05 Time: 00:00:00 Posted By: Jan
The Inspector of Mines is to conduct an investigation into the mine accident at Harmony Gold’s Elandsrand mine near Carletonville, it said on Thursday.
Inspector of mines Thabo Gazi said the body would conduct a separate investigation into the matter after 3200 miners were trapped underground.
“The matter is certainly worrying, an investigation will be launched into the matter.
“It is difficult to predict how long the investigation will take to complete, it should not take no longer than three months,” said Gazi.
Gazi said that he was happy that there had been no loss of life.
The miners became trapped on Wednesday morning when a pipe fell into the lift shaft and cut off the power supply to the lift normally used to hoist them out of the mine.
Harmony spokesperson Lizelle du Toit said that the mine would conduct its own investigations.
“An investigation into the matter including damage assessment will start on Friday. We will only know when the investigation kicks off,” she said.
She said about 1000 miners were still underground shortly before 1pm Thursday and that all mining activity had been stopped.
Gazi said that it was necessary for companies who bought old mines to upgrade them.
“The worrying thing for me is that old infrastructure must be upgraded,” he said.
Referring to allegations of neglect at the mine, he said that would only be established once the investigation had been concluded.
Gazi added that the Mine Health and Safety Council (MHSC) Biennial Summit focusing on the state of health and safety at mines was set to continue.
“The summit which is scheduled for on Friday is set to continue,” he said.
Earlier on Thursday, Harmony denied negligence allegations – made by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) – at the mine.
“Negligence allegations are untrue. According to mine safety regulations the mine shafts have to be inspected once a week. We have complied with the regulations.
“The last shaft inspection was on Saturday – it is unfortunate that this has happened,” said Du Toit.
NUM spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka called on the minerals and energy department to take action to ensure that safety requirements were followed.
” If the department does not do so, we may have to take industrial action,” said Seshoka.
During her visit to the mine, minerals and energy minister Buyelwa Sonjica said that Health and Safety legislation would be “tightened up” to try to prevent mining accidents.
The Inkatha Freedom Party expressed its sympathy to those trapped underground while the ANC called for a speedy rescue of the remaining trapped workers. – Sapa
Source: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?art_id=nw20071004140220228C763815