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+ Driver
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Oct 3 2007, 10:12 PM
Post #1
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Death is waiting for you....
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RESCUERS began an operation today to bring 3200 miners to the surface, more than 15 hours after they became trapped underground at a gold mine in South Africa. About 150 workers had been hoisted out of the Elandsrand mine, southwest of Johannesburg, by 2.30am (10.30am AEST) but all the workers were not expected to be rescued for another 10 hours, a spokeswoman for mine owners Harmony Gold said.
"So far, 150 have been evacuated," spokeswoman Amelia Soares said at the site of the mine on the outskirts of Carletonville.
"They are all in good condition," she said.
Paramedics had been sent down to check on the other miners, who were trapped at level 73 of the mine, some 2.2km below the surface.
After unions had earlier expressed fears that the miners face the danger of suffocating, Ms Soares said the rescuers would bring them fresh oxygen supplies.
"They will make sure that enough oxygen is sent down so there is no risk," she said.
There were no immediate reports of injuries or fatalities at the mine after a cable snapped on their normal lift.
A spokesman for the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said shop stewards were sent down with the rescuers to calm those still waiting to come to the surface.
All of them were to be put in a makeshift lift which carried three cages of 25 miners at a time.
"Those who are still below are very anxious and very, very exhausted and hungry as well," NUM spokesman Peter Bailey said.
"Anxiety and exhaustion can create a situation where you get anxiety attacks and people might rush the cages."
Harmony, the fifth largest gold producer in the world, bought Elandsrand from rival AngoGold in a one billion rand ($163 million) deal in 2001 in which it also acquired the neighbouring Deelkraal mine.
Since then, it has been busy deepening the sub-shafts in order to access what it has described as 6.9 million ounces of proven gold reserves.
The incident at Elandsrand is the second safety scare in the last fortnight. One person needed hospital treatment late last month after a fire broke out at St Helena mine, near the town of Welkom in the Free State.
There have been a number of fatal accidents at South African mines in recent months, including a land collapse in North West in late July which left two miners dead.
Mr Bailey said the latest incident should serve as a wake-up call to the gold mining industry which is a major driver of the South African economy.
"The gold industry in general is very negligent on safety matters," he said.
"The lesson that must be drawn from this is that you cannot have a cage, with electric cables, run on a daily basis and not do daily safety checks."
Source at http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22529734-401,00.html
Im sure most know about this, but you dont hear about some of this stuff at Aussie
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