Update 3: Doornkop mine
Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited (“Harmony” and/or “the company”) regrets to advise that rescue workers have located the bodies of eight of the employees who were unaccounted following the fire at the Doornkop gold mine. The search continues for the ninth employee.
The fire was reported in a stope adjacent to 192 level haulage (some 1 733m underground) around 18:00 on Tuesday, 4 February 2014, following a seismic event that triggered a fall of ground. Rescue teams were immediately dispatched underground, but access to the affected area was hampered by smoke and a fall of ground.
At around 07:00 on 5 February, rescue workers located eight employees in an underground refuge chamber, and they were brought to surface, unharmed, by 11:00.
Harmony’s CEO Graham Briggs, the board and management extend their condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of the men who died.
For more details contact:
Russell and Associates
Charmane Russell / James Duncan
Tel: +27 (0)11 880 3924
Mobile: +27 (0) 82 372 5816 / +27 (0) 82 318 9855