Miner Killed In Kroondal Accident
September 8th, 2008South Africa. A mine worker died after an accident at Kroondal Platinum Mine in the North West, Aquarius Platinum South Africa said on Saturday.The miner’s death came a day after mining bosses, state officials and trade unionists held a Health and Safety summit to discuss ways of reducing accidents and fatalities in the sector.
The accident happened on Friday night, at the K5 shaft, when an employee of mining contractor Redpath Mining was fatally injured by a load-haul dump vehicle.
The company said the man died on the scene. No-one else was injured.
An inspection was conducted on Friday night by Aquarius’s management, the inspectorate for Safety and Health from the Department of Minerals and Energy, Redpath Mining management, and union representatives.
Operations using trackless equipment have been suspended at the shaft where the accident occurred, and the drivers of load-haul dump vehicles are being retrained.
Solidarity spokesperson Reint Dykema said it seemed there was “an accident a day”.
Minister of minerals and energy Buyelwa Sonjica said 116 people had died in the industry in the eight months to August, compared with 142 people in the same period last year.
Last year, deaths at South African mines rose 10 percent when compared with 2006.
By: Sapa and Justin Brown
Posted on: 8 September 2008
Print this post
