Power was restored to the Beatrix gold mine owned by Sibanye-Stillwater early on Friday morning, prompting the rescue of hundreds of miners trapped underground since Thursday morning.
The power came on at 2am on Friday morning and hoisting was started in order to rescue the miners, said company spokesman James Wellsted.
So far 948 people had been hoisted safely back to the surface and only seven remained underground and would be immediately returned to surface, he said.
“This is significant rescue effort and one that all who participated in can be extremely proud off, and it is a clear demonstration of the competence within the South African mining industry. The actions taken by management and decisions taken resulted in all our employees returning safely to their families,” said Sibanye CEO Neal Froneman after the last of the trapped miners were hoisted to the surface.
The storm knocked out the primary and secondary electricity supplies to the mine.
The Beatrix mine in the Free State was paralysed by a power outage after a storm on Wednesday night knocked over a pylon supplying electricity to the mine and trapping 1,300 people underground, company officials said. Power was restored to two shafts and 336 people were returned to surface.
South African mines have a good history in cases like these where masses of miners are trapped underground.
This incident also raises serious concern regarding the lack of emergency contingency plans at the mine for alternative and backup power generation
— Amcu
Harmony said on Thursday it had provided three 2.5MW generators from the nearby Joel mine to assist with the rescue efforts at Beatrix, while members of its expert mine-rescue teams were assisting.
On the whole, gold mining companies have been successful in bringing trapped workers to safety in situations similar to this. Harmony Gold brought 3,200 workers to the surface at its Elandsrand gold mine in 2007, after a shaft was damaged and power supply to a main working area was halted.
In 2015, Harmony safely brought 486 miners to the surface after an underground fire at its Kusasalethu mine.
The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) said on Thursday that it was concerned about the wellbeing of the trapped miners, citing a lack of medication for those who needed it.
“This incident also raises serious concern regarding the lack of emergency contingency plans at the mine for alternative and backup power generation.
“Surely this cannot be acceptable and best practice. Amcu insists that the mine should have its own backup arrangements for this kind of contingency,” it said.
“Mining is very unsafe, and mine workers risk life and limb daily to put bread on the table for their families.
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) also expressed concern for the trapped workers’ health on Thursday, and called for tough measures against Sibanye and other mining companies where miners have been injured or killed.
“We call on the [Department of Mineral Resources] inspectorate to hold the mining industry fully accountable for its failures and adopt a no-nonsense approach when it comes to injuries and fatalities in the mining industry,” NUM said.
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