Harmony reports success in combating criminal mining
Johannesburg. Monday, 1 June 2009. Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited (Harmony) has announced that, in the past two weeks, 294 criminal miners have been brought to surface at the company’s Eland shaft in the Free State. They were charged and will be criminally prosecuted.
The company disclosed this recent success on the back of tightened security measures today. The bodies of 36 criminal miners have been brought to surface at the shaft during the past weekend by fellow criminal miners, reportedly following an underground fire in an abandoned area.
Harmony Chief Executive Officer, Graham Briggs said: “We continue to address the issue of criminal mining on a daily basis, together with the South African Police Services, the Department of Justice, the National Prosecuting Authority and other affected mining companies.”
Initiatives instituted by Harmony, Briggs said, include:
- tightened security at shaft heads;
- daily search operations underground; and
- improved access control measures.
It is not known if other criminal miners have died, and the company says it will not deploy its own employees on underground searches, as the abandoned mining areas where the criminal miners have been active are extremely dangerous. Production was not affected by the incident.
For more details contact:
Tom Smith
Chief Operating Officer, South Region
+27 (0)84 499 6051
Marian van der Walt
Executive: Corporate and Investor Relations
+27 (0)82 888 1242
Esha Brijmohan
Investor Relations Officer
+27 (0)82 759 1775