Harmony miners in large scale rescue

An incident has occurred at Harmony Gold’s Elandsrand mine near Carletonville, in South Africa, which left 3,200 miners trapped underground.

The mine’s main man hoisting shaft was put out of action yesterday, when a broken pipe severed power cables to a lift.

Miners are gradually being brought to the surface in small numbers via an alternative shaft.

Harmony has reported that none of the miners are injured and it seems likely that workers will suffer nothing more than a period of confinement underground and some discomfort.

The miners are at a depth of around 1.4 miles and the area closest to the shafts, which is where they are waiting to be lifted out of the mine, should be ventilated well.

Underground temperatures will also be at their coolest close to the shaft bottom.

Gold production at Elandsrand, which is a large mine, will be at a standstill until repairs have been carried out and an accident enquiry undertaken.

This could take several days and in any event, the workers trapped underground will need time to recover once they are brought to the surface.