More than 350 miners are holed up underground at Gold One Mine in Springs.
The National Union of Mineworkers says the group went underground as part of yesterday’s night shift and never came to the surface. The union says it is unclear if the unfolding situation is sit-in or hostage.
Livhuwani Mambhuru, the spokesperson for NUM confirms that more than 350 mineworkers didn’t come to surface after going down for the night shift on Thursday.
“The NUM can confirm that there’s a situation that is currently unfolding at Gold One that involves more than 350 mineworkers underground. So we don’t know if it is a sit in or a hostage that is happening that started there last night during the night shift but we are also reliably informed that two mine workers managed to escape last night,” said Mambhuru.
Mambhuru said the NUM is a majority union at the mine but did not initiate nor is leading the unfolding situation.
Mine management could not be reached for comment. Meanwhile more than 200 mineworkers remain underground at Bakubung Platinum Mine in the Northwest. They staged a sit-in after going down a shaft on Wednesday night.