Posted on 02/01/2018 1:20:02 PM PST by sodpoodle
About 950 gold miners were stuck underground in South Africa on Thursday after a power cut, the mine's owner said, though the workers were not reported to be in immediate danger.
The Sibanye-Stillwater mining company said a massive power outage caused by a storm had prevented lifts from bringing the night shift to the surface at the Beatrix gold mine, near the city of Welkom.
"We have got 955 employees still underground, they are in a confined and safe area, it's the shaft waiting area (and) there is ventilation, we are supplying them with water and food," James Wellsted, spokesman for Sibanye-Stillwater, told AFP.
"So everybody is fine at the moment. We are trying to restore power so we can start hoisting them to the surface," he said, speaking on the phone from the mine. He said the depth where the miners were trapped was uncertain, but the mine has 23 levels, going down to about 1,000 metres (3280 feet) below ground.
One cable was restored during the day and 272 workers were rescued, but 955 remained trapped by early evening, the company said.
They have been underground for 24 hours. Wellsted said that engineers were struggling to get emergency generators to operate and re-start the lifts following the storm.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
I like your profile page.
I looked at his home page and saw nothing slanderous.
I’ve been here a long time, and it seemed factual to me.
Prayers for their safe rescue.
I totally agree with your statement. In 1976 I was over 9000 feet deep in a gold mine in South Africa. The wall temps were about 120F. There is almost a city underground with about 10,000 workers. I took my first lift down to about 5000 feet deep. Then took a underground train for 20 minutes to another lift and then dropped to about 9000 feet. I was very uncomfortable(nerves). I remember the stench but I got used to it after a little while. Too afraid to go back down the next day.
I believe that’s the same year I went into the mine!
I was working for Ingersoll-Rand and I was there to test an experimental rock pick. I spent 3 weeks in Jo-burg. I was in the West Driefontein or Vaal Reefs mine.
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