While most residents of the Phalaborwa Municipality were queuing for the BlackFridaySale, a miner at Palabora Copper lost his life and another was seriously injured.

According to the company’s spokesperson, Hulisani Nemaxwi, the accident occurred around 09:00 at their underground Lift Two Development Project.

“It is with sadness and shock that we announce that one of our contractor’s employee died this morning after a beam fell on top of him. His colleague sustained serious injuries and is currently in a critical, but stable condition at a local Hospital. The authorities being Department of Mineral Resources, South African Police Services and our internal safety crew, are currently investigating the matter to determine what could have led to the accident,” he explained.

Nemaxwi added that at this stage they cannot speculate about the root cause of the accident, but once preliminary investigations have been concluded, a report will be communicated to the public.

“We have since closed all operations for the next 24 hours out of respect of the deceased and the injured miner, but the afternoon shift for tomorrow will report for work. We have also communicated with the two miners’ families and our heartfelt condolences go out to the deceased’s family and we also wish the injured miner a speedy recovery,” he remarked.