In addition to regular inquiries in terms of the Mine Health and Safety Act, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) has called for a commission to be set up by the Department of Mineral Resources to determine the real causes of several mining accidents over the past few months, and to determine whether more could have been done to avoid the consequences. 

This comes after a spate of incidents during the past few months, including one on Saturday morning which involved a fall-of-ground incident at AngloGold Ashanti’s Mponeng mine, in Gauteng, which resulted in one worker being killed and two mineworkers being trapped. While one worker has been extracted and is currently recovering from a shoulder injury in hospital, the other worker is still trapped approximately 3 km underground.

AMCU said it had previously criticised mines for their apparent focus on profit over safety and will participate fully in the upcoming inquiry by the DMR. (miningweekly.com)