Sibanye suspends Kloof 4 shaft operations after incident
Diversified miner Sibanye-Stillwater announced on August 1 that management has suspended all operations at its Kloof gold mine 4 shaft, after an incident occurred at the Ikamva shaft on July 30, while investigations are under way.
“During a standard safety trial run of the conveyance system, conducted prior to hoisting employees up the shaft, infrastructure damage occurred when the ascending counterweight to the conveyance encountered an unknown obstruction in the shaft, resulting in a number of ballast plates falling down the shaft.
“As a result of the incident, access through the shaft to underground levels between 39 and 46 levels was restricted,” states Sibanye.
The miner also points out that the incident occurred between shifts and all employees below 39 level were safely brought to the surface without any injuries sustained.
Power has subsequently been restored to the shaft area allowing the pumping of water from the shaft bottom to commence.
“Teams have started working on ensuring the safety of the shaft to facilitate and plan essential repairs within the shaft barrel and assess the extent of the infrastructure damage below 39 level.
“The extent of structural damage to the shaft steelwork has not yet been established but may result in a significant delay to the resumption of operations below 39 level.”
Sibanye also adds that the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, as well as the trade unions, have been informed.
Kloof 4 shaft produces an average of about 9 650 oz a month, or 115 743 oz/y, which accounts for about 14% of yearly production from the company’s gold operations (excluding gold miner DRDGold).
Comments
The
content
you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.
If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.
If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.
For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation