Mine rescue on hold to assess danger

LOW’S CREEK – The rescue mission to free the trapped miners at Lily Mine has been suspended for at least 48 hours.

What’s more, it could take days for the safety assessment currently underway at the mine to be concluded because of the structural volatility underground. Attempts to free miners Mr Solomon Nyarende, Ms Yvonne Mnisi and Ms Pretty Nkambule (34), who were inside the container (lamp room) which hurtled about 80 metres underground on February 5, was halted early on Saturday morning when a second collapse occurred. On Sunday just before 16:00, what is called a ground scaling (rock falling) incident took place.

Yesterday, at the time of going to print, operations director at the mine Mr Mike Begg, Mr Eben Swanepoel (mine manager at Vantage Goldfields with a master’s degree in mining engineering) and Prof Francois Malan (rock engineer with special expertise in rock and numerical engineering) from the University of Pretoria, were assessing the stability of the situation underground to determine the way forward.

Also read: Day 10 of Lily Mine disaster: Rescue halted pending safety audit

The help of expert rock engineers from Gauteng – Steffan, Robertson and Kersten – has also been called in. Begg said a decision on how to proceed would only be made on completion of the stability and safety audit. He said rock was continuing to scale into the pit. “Basically everything is still shifting and it’s not safe yet.”

A media briefing was held at 14:00 yesterday during which it was announced that the operation would be halted for the next two days. Begg confirmed that the sounds rescuers had heard on day five (Tuesday), were indeed knocking noises from within the container, and not echoes, as had been speculated in some quarters.

The equipment used to measure this, was the same as that used during the famous Chilean mine disaster in 2010. Vantage Goldfields CEO Mr Mike McChesney and Mineral Resources Minister Mr Mosebenzi Zwane addressed the media.

Zwane said he had been sent by president Mr Jacob Zuma, who was very worried about the situation. He added that the incident couldn’t have been anticipated. Zwane said government had started formulating plans to get the CEOs of all the country’s mines together to look at health and safety issues in mines and ensure that this type of incident did not recur.

He said that government was assessing the trapped miners’ family structures and needs to determine how they should intervene and render support. The help of the South Africa Social Security Agency has also been called in. On Saturday the media were allowed inside the gates onto the site for the first time since the incident.

While everyone was waiting for the arrival of Zwane and the premier, Mr David Mabuza, Mnisi’s father, Pastor Elmon Mnisi, led the family in prayer, asking for God’s intervention. Heart-breaking cries of “Jesu” rose into the air while family members wept for their lost loved ones. Delegates of a Senegalese faith-based organisation, Yakar Yala, were also present during the prayers and said a few heartfelt words, leaving the family with the words of Psalm 23 for comfort.

Also read: Day 11 of Lily Mine disaster: rescue operations to stay on hold

After the event Mabuza spoke to each family member in turn, offering words of encouragement. The families have been waiting close to the hole in which their loved ones disappeared on that terrible day. Mabuza said the mine had tried everything in its power, but it was clear now that it needed some help. “I believe as a country we do have the expertise. We will go beyond the scope of the mine itself and request assistance from national government, from businesses. What I can tell you is that we will, we will proceed.”
He said that, dead or alive, Nkambule, Nyarende and Mnisi would be found because it would be very difficult for the families to leave the site knowing that their loved ones were still missing.

According to Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) president, Mr Joseph Mathunjwa, who has been on site as well as underground every day, the stage has not yet been reached where the rescue operation will become a recovery. He said that could only be decided after the assessment.

During his speech on Saturday, McChesney said the people who are still missing are also their family. “These are the people of Lily Mine, of Mimco, of Vantage and we are a close family and I want to assure you that we will continue to do everything we can to get them back.” He said if there was anything good that had come out of the tragedy, it was that all their safety systems worked on the day of the first collapse.

“I must say that I was very pleased to see that we did have some success on that tragic day,” he said. McChesney thanked his three mining managers, led by Begg, for their hard work since the incident. Begg, who had not spoken a word during the proceedings, looked worn out and distressed. When minister of mineral resources, Mr Mosebenzi Zwane took the microphone, he broke into song before he even said a word, and was joined by the relatives and miners. During his speech he announced that each of the 75 miners who were inside the mine last Friday would receive R50 000 as compensation, while the families of the three missing miners would receive R200 000 from government.

On being questioned about investigating the cause of the accident, Zwane said “now is not the time to speculate on issues of investigations”. “Our focus – all of us – should be to
get these people above the surface of the ground and be able to ensure that we support their families and give them hope. The issues of investigation and the outcome of what caused the accident – we will be able to deal with those issues after we have achieved our main goal – to save the people from this atrocity and to move forward.”

Yesterday, Mr Christo de Klerk, CEO of Mines Rescue Services SA, said they were standing by with two rescue teams and would go in once it had been indicated that operations could be resumed.