An inquiry into the fatal accident at one of Impala Platinum’s mines two years ago will proceed without a key report that the chair believes could shed light on the safety failures that claimed 13 lives.
The JSE-listed mining house asserted legal privilege over the report produced by a multinational mining engineering firm, DRA Global.
The presiding officer of the inquiry, initiated by the department of mineral resources in December, has twice asked Implats to furnish the report but was rebuffed by the group in the ongoing inquiry, expected to be concluded in about June.
The inquiry could result in Implats being sanctioned or recommended for prosecution.
The department failed in its bid to force Implats to furnish the report through a court order, with the Labour Court in November ruling in Implats’ favour.
This has not stopped NUM, one of South Africa’s largest mining unions, from lambasting Implats for keeping the report under wraps.
NUM spokesperson Livhuwani Mammburu said all reports related to Implat’s internal investigations had to be be disclosed for transparency and the strengthening of safety in the industry.
“We are shocked that this report has not been made available to the chairperson of the inquiry and other stakeholders. We suspect that the findings of that report might be damning,” Mammburu told Business Day on Wednesday.
“The department must force the company to release that report, more so when it is required by the chairperson of the inquiry. If the company has nothing to hide and is not looking at protecting its narrow interest, it should have no problem releasing the report.”
We are shocked that this report has not been made available to the chairperson of the inquiry and other stakeholders.
— Livhuwani Mammburu, NUM spokesperson
Implats, worth R260bn on the JSE, has already furnished the inquiry with investigation reports conducted by Wenhold Safety Investigations (WSI) and Consultancy and CM Consulting Services (CMCS).
It is the DRA one that the group insists is confidential, as it amounts to legal advice and potential defences the group can rely on.
Johan Theron, group executive for corporate affairs at Implats, said DRA was appointed to enable the group’s law firm, ENS, to furnish it with legal advice about the inquiry and other contemplated litigation, including potential criminal prosecution.
“The dominant purpose of the DRA report was to enable the legal representatives of Impala to advise its client on impending litigation,” Theron told Business Day.
The incident took place on November 27 2023, leading to 13 deaths and more than 70 injuries. At the time, Implats CEO Nico Muller described it as the “darkest day” in the company’s history.
The accident occurred in 11 Shaft, a 1,000m deep mine shaft with 20 levels. The lift that carries workers up and down the shaft was on its way to level 17 when it suddenly changed direction and started falling.
The automatic emergency system that should have stopped the lift failed, even though the winder rope remained intact.
The lift came to a sudden stop at level 20, about 180m below level 17 and close to the bottom of 11 Shaft.
The counterweight, which balances the weight of the conveyance and the rope, reached the top of the winding infrastructure on the surface and, as designed, was caught in jack catches, which are safety devices that prevent a conveyance from falling further down the shaft in the case of a rope breakage.
This resulted in a sudden, almost instantaneous halt of the lift, exerting a tremendous force on the 86 employees who were standing upright in the lift at the time.
Theron said the company is committed to implementing the recommendations that emerge from the inquiry.
Tragically, not all injured employees have returned to work, more than two years after the incident.
“Currently 15 employees remain on medical leave under review by Impala Medical Services with their return-to-work recommendations pending. These employees continue to receive emotional and physical support from the medical team,” Theron said.
*This story has been amended to reflect that 13 people died as a result of the incident on November 27 2023. Not 16. The latter number was derived from the relevant Labour Court judgment on 20 November 2025. We are investigating how that discrepancy could occur.
Business Day
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