JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Newly listed Sibanye Gold has suspended operations at its Beatrix 4 Shaft, after a fire broke out in a raise line on 20 Level on Tuesday.
Beatrix mine management and mine rescue teams have contained the affected areas and evacuated all employees. No one had been injured in the fire.
The company was assessing the situation and trying to get the fire under control.
The affected area on 20 Level accounted for some 2 700 m2 of the 7 500 m2 of mining planned at Beatrix 4 shaft, but, as a result of the high levels of smoke and gas being generated, management deemed it prudent to suspend underground production at Beatrix 4 shaft until the full impact of the fire had been assessed.
Beatrix 4 shaft produces about 218 kg, or 7 011 oz, of gold a month, representing about 24% of the total 28 869 oz a month of gold produced by the entire Beatrix operations.
Sibanye Gold, led by CEO Neal Froneman, was recently unbundled out of Gold Fields and seperately listed on the JSE and NYSE.