A detailed investigation into what could have led to an unusual mud rush at the Kimberly based diamond, Ekapa Mineral Mine has officially begun following the successful retrieval of all the five bodies of mineworkers who were trapped underground for over a period of five weeks.
The accident occurred on February 17 when a mudslide affected one of the operational areas leaving five miners trapped.
Speaking on YOU FM Newshour, the Chief Inspector of Mines David Msiza confirmed that the rescue operation has officially been concluded.
“We have been here for the last five weeks since February.
Working day and night with the mine, the mine rescue services and the various proto team from the neighbouring mines and across the other provinces as well to ensure that we get to the five trapped miners, and it finally paid off, we managed to retrieve all of them,” said Msiza.
He also confirmed that the mine management has since shut down operations and applied for its liquidation which has been preceded by a legal process.
“We have started with the process doing a comprehensive investigation by collecting necessary documents.
We will also look at the witnesses that will participate on the investigation and the various stakeholders including the organised labour at the mine and the mine management to really understand what happened during this accident.
We are looking at least within the next three months, we will be done with the investigation,” committed Msiza.
He highlighted that it has been a while since they have experienced a tragedy in a diamond mine unlike in gold and platinum mines where accidents happen quite often.
“The investigation will entail what we call inspection in-loco which includes a visit to the affected areas underground and what it also entails is the assessment of the effectiveness of the health and safety management system at the mine to prevent the accident.
But we must also highlight the fact that we generally don’t have mud rushes in the diamond sector.
Generally, mud rushes happen in the gold and platinum mines, but they’re no longer high risk, they don’t cause loss of life and injuries,” explained Msiza.
The Department has undertaken to ensure that the families of the five miners receive sufficient support to ensure that there are decent funerals for their deceased loved ones.
“There are due processes that we have instructed the mine to follow in terms of the legislation.
We must also really appreciate and commend the mining sector for their support because without their support including various mining companies, the minerals council, organised labour, we would not have achieved this milestone also mine managers in the Northern Cape.
A lot of people contributed to ensure that families and affected miners get money to buy groceries including the Northern Cape provincial government,” concluded Msiza.
