JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Harmony Gold suspended all its operations across its portfolio effective from the nightshift on Thursday after two more fatalities were reported at the North West-based Kusasalethu and the Free State-based Joel mines on Thursday.

“The past two days have been tragic for Harmony, having lost our colleagues at three of our operations in three separate events. This is unacceptable,” Harmony CEO Graham Briggs said.

No blasting activities would take place for the next 24 hours as the company undertakes safety shifts at all its mines.

“During these safety shifts, general managers will lead their senior teams underground, re-enforcing safety messages and procedures, particularly in respect of critical safety areas. Unions will play an important role throughout this process in facilitating engagement and supporting leadership,” he concluded.

Eight workers died after a 2.4 seismic event on Tuesday triggered a fall-of-ground accident and a subsequent fire some 1 733 m underground at the Doornkop mine, west of Johannesburg.

Rescue teams continued their search on Friday for a ninth worker, who remained unaccounted for.

On Thursday afternoon, a worker at the Kusasalethu mine died when a backfill paddock and bag – a vessel placed in worked-out areas underground and filled with tailings material from the surface to provide support – failed, which resulted in an employee being “inundated by backfill material”.

At the Joel mine, Harmony said an employee died in a blasting accident.

In January, an employee was fatally injured in a tramming accident at the Masimong mine, near Welkom.

The National Education, Health, and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu) slammed the “high rate of mineworker fatalities” in the country.

Newswire Sapa on Friday quoted Nehawu spokesperson Sizwe Pamla as saying the fatalities were unacceptable and mine bosses should not offer “empty, rhetoric and public declarations” but give tangible solutions to end the fatalities.

"We support our sister union the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in its call for the Department of Mineral Resource’s (DMR’s) mine health and safety inspectorate to conduct an immediate and thorough investigation into the accident, to ascertain what went wrong and hold those responsible accountable for these deaths," said Pamla.

“But there have been small miracles too, and I ask that we do not lose sight of this. On Wednesday, eight miners were rescued and brought to surface at [the] Doornkop gold mine – all unharmed,” Briggs said in a statement on the company’s website, thanking the proto teams and mine rescue services who worked “tirelessly and under extremely challenging conditions” underground to save lives.

NUM earlier this week said it would “leave no stone unturned” as it called on the DMR to undertake its investigation into the accident.

"[The incident is] really bad news for us – the NUM, families of the deceased, the DMR and the South African public. We pass our deepest condolences to the families of the deceased. One death is one death too many," NUM health and safety secretary Erick Gcilitshana said in a statement.

The Mining Industry Association of Southern Africa president Charles Siwawa reiterated the need for the South African Development Community countries to consolidate cooperation on mine safety through “sharing of leading best practices and technologies”.

Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu stated that the situation was “deeply regrettable”, indicating that when the search for the last missing miner was concluded and the fire properly extinguished, it would undertake an in loco inspection and move to establish what caused the accident.

“The results of this inspection will determine what further steps will be taken by the department,” Shabangu added

A memorial service would be held at Doornkop on Wednesday, February 12.