Minister of Mineral resources Mosebenzi Zwane says operations at the Sibanye-Stillwater mine in Theunissen will remain suspended until proper investigations are conducted.
More than 1000 miners were trapped underground after Wednesday’s power outage, caused by severe storm.
Speaking at a media briefing earlier on Friday, Zwane pointed out that the investigation is vital for the safety of the miners and will end speculations.
He says his department has been on the ground to assist the mine management.
“We have agreed in the meeting that we are going to follow due processes to ensure the safety of everybody and allow the mine to operate once we have followed those processes. And the management is happy, we are happy about that,” says Zwane.
Sibanye-Stillwater mine management has refuted claims that it was ill-prepared for unforeseen eventualities at its operations.
It has emerged that it was 1291 workers who were trapped underground following a violent storm which caused power outages at four shafts.
The last group of 955 miners were rescued on Friday morning.
Sibanye-Stillwater Stakeholder Relations Head Thabisile Phumo says they remained in control throughout the crisis.
“We have back-up generators on site. In fact, all the shafts have got generators. During the crisis both Beatrix Four and Beatrix One generators were started up for back-up power and we could hoist people from underground, but because of the power surge the Beatrix shaft generator and the winder control systems were damaged by the power surge.”
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